Mother 3: To Rebuild or to be Reborn?
by DarkFoxKit
Summary: AU/spoilers for Mother 3. Two brothers, two different paths, two different ideals and two different goals. Will these brothers' bond remain intact or will it be broken through the war of two conflicting paths? If you had to choose to be responsible for a mess everyone had created or let someone else clean it up for you... which road would you take?
1. Chapter 1: PSI Fever

**Ah, hello dear readers! Oh what am I doing here? Why am I working on a Mother fanfiction? To be honest I'm quite new to the Mother series and I had only finished playing EarthBound and Mother 3- fan translation- last month. However, the story and sadness of Mother 3 had been so enticing to me that I had to write a fanfiction on it. Now this is a question I had in my mind during the pulling of the Seven Needles; is it really right to risk destroying the world just for a chance for it to be reborn or would it have been better if the people of the current world actually tried to rebuild it? I mean with the- *spoiler alert if you haven't finished Mother 3* ambiguous ending after the** **cataclysm I was left hanging, wondering what happened. Sure at the End? screen the people will tell you they're okay and all, but that's not good enough. And I wanted Claus to have a bigger role and thought what if Porky is actually a good guy? And thus this fanfiction is born. Now I will say that I'm not good with a slow set up, so montages and exposition will be in Claus or Lucas's thoughts. And I wrote this with people already familiar with Mother 3 in mind, so if you're not familiar with it already I suggest you play it or watch a let's play of it. But if you're like me and can't wait to read the story then I guess you could still read it but it's not recommended especially with a lot of potential spoilers. ^_^' I do plan to have a possible spin off series that goes into a lot more detail on what the twins did during these montages, but for now I'm gonna focus on the main plot itself. I did have some help from DonFyre- an online friend of mine- sometimes, so give him some credit too. Anyways, since this is a new story I hope it'll be refreshing and exciting to the readers. It IS AU (alternate universe) so don't expect everyone to be the same as they are in the games.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own EarthBound or Mother 3 or any of its characters. I just play the game and write fanfictions.**

* * *

 **To Rebuild or to be Reborn?**

 **Chapter 1: PSI Fever**

 _Ever since I can remember, Lucas and I were different. We are twin brothers and I'm two minutes older, yet he acted first. Lucas was kind and gentle by nature. My brother started helping Mom around the house when we were 4 years old, and as I was watching him, and seeing how happy this made Mother I decided to try it too. But of course, because Lucas did it first everyone said how I was influenced by Lucas. It didn't take long before I realized that people compared me to Lucas and he kept doing a better job than I did. He enjoyed helping people more than I did. I was shy, as hard to believe as that is if you knew me now, and I didn't want to approach people I didn't know too well. Lucas had no such issues, yes he's shy too, but he was more than happy to help someone if they needed it. I rather play than help, because after a while I get tired and bored, but this only made people disapprove of me and wonder why I couldn't be more thoughtful like my brother. Eventually I grew tired of the comparison and decided to try and be more opposite of my brother. I tried to be more hyperactive and more outgoing and it seemed to have worked. People saw me as a hyperactive troublemaker, but at least they finally recognize me as Claus, not just Lucas's twin brother._

 _The two of us grew up with our parents. Mom, her name is Hinawa. And Dad, his name is Flint. They're both very nice people and raised us with love and care. Mom was like Lucas, she's very kind and gentle, always knows what to say when one or both of us are upset. Dad is more of the strong and caring guy, he can lift a lot of heavy wood and is good at taking care of the sheep along with our dog Boney. Dad's also more of a strong silent type, he doesn't like to talk much or show a lot of emotion, but he cares for all of us. We live in a small, humble village called Tazmily. I guess one would say it's primitive, but people worked together and were happy with their lives._

 _Despite my apparent jealousy towards my twin brother Lucas I actually love him very much. We do just about everything together and I wouldn't have it any other way. We play with the animals in the forest, they were always so friendly to us, especially the Dragos. They're big, strong and scary looking, but they're actually really nice. Dragos are these big green dinosaurs with a big jaw, small arms and big feet, they're really good jumpers even if they don't look it. Things were going well with our lives… until that night…_

 _Lucas and I were only ten years old at the time. We were coming back home with Mom after a visit with grandpa, but on our way back we were attacked by a Drago. This wasn't an ordinary Drago either, it had machine parts on its body, including its eye. It was scary and it kept looking at us as if it wanted to eat us. Mom pushed me and Lucas back and told us to get away while she hold it off. Lucas and I shouted for her, but she yelled back at us to go. I saw the Drago lunging at her with its teeth and I grabbed Lucas without realizing it and both of us jumped down a cliff and into the river, where we were both swept away and found by the other villagers. And someone found Mom's body, saying that there was a Drago's tooth in her chest. This devastated Dad… and both me and Lucas. Thomas wanted to give Dad the Drago's tooth so he could use as a weapon, but Dad threw it into the river, not wanting anything to do with the Drago that killed Mom._

 _Lucas and I stayed by Mom's grave for a long time. I could do nothing but try to comfort my brother as he cried his little heart out. I wanted to cry so badly along with him, but I forced myself not to… I had to be strong for Lucas. Revenge came across my mind a few times, but so did logic. What could a little boy like me do to a Drago? I would only get myself killed and that would make it worse for Lucas and Dad… and Mom wouldn't want that, she sacrificed herself to save_ both _of us after all._

 _It was a few days later that this peddler came into Tazmily Village. He called himself Fassad and he had a monkey companion with him. Fassad talked to us about happiness and that we should use a thing called 'money' as currency to get paid for our hard work. He talked about these things called 'technology' to help the village grow and prosper. Two days after that, his monkey companion, Salsa I think he called it, was gone. Nobody knows what happened to Salsa but apparently it ran away._

 _It's been only a year since then. Why am I reminiscing about this now? I just wanted to think about what happened. It felt like it was much longer, the village had changed a lot in just one year. Dirt is becoming concrete road, buildings are getting bigger, everyone is charging money for their services and people are getting a bit more greedy._

* * *

"Claus? Come on wake up. Aren't you usually the morning riser out of the two of us?" Lucas was in his brother's face.

Claus looked at him from his bed. "I was already awake, Lucas. I was just thinking about some stuff."

"Come on Claus, all you ever do is think lately. You used to be more active than that." Lucas whined as he pulled his brother out of bed. "Now come on. We promised Dad we would go walk Boney and pick up some bread at the bakery today."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." Claus grumbled. "But I better get cleaned up first. I don't want to go out there in my pajamas and messy hair."

"Okay, but hurry. Dad is tending to the sheep but he'll be expecting us to get the bread soon." Lucas said and Claus sighed.

"It's not like the bakery's going to up and vanish if we don't get there as soon as possible." The orange haired boy said before getting dressed in his usual yellow and teal striped shirt and combing his hair to smooth out the bedhead.

With that done, the two brothers came out of their house. Boney greeted them with a bark and wagged his tail. Claus and Lucas smiled as they patted their favorite dog.

"You want to go for a walk, Boney?" Claus asked.

"Woof! Woof!" Boney barked happily before standing up and began walking to them.

"Alright, let's go get some bread." Lucas said. "Dad gave us enough money to buy a loaf or two."

"Alright, let's get this over with." The orange haired boy said.

The twins walked into town with their brown dog behind them. People waved to them but otherwise didn't say anything. Claus looked over at Lucas and noticed something… he looked tired and a had a red tint on his face. They hadn't walked that long and it wasn't hot out today, this worried Claus.

"Lucas? Are you okay?" Claus asked the blond haired boy in concern.

"I'm fine… just… just have a bit of a headache is all." Lucas said with a small smile.

"A headache?" Claus blinked. "You have a headache?"

"It's fine, it's not that bad, it should go away soon." Lucas reassured him.

This did not ease Claus's worry for his twin, but decided to just keep an eye on him in case it got worse. They walked into the bakery. There used to be two sisters here who would make bread daily for the villagers, now they charge money for their work. On the bright side they can have more than one bread depending on how much they can pay.

"Oh Lucas, Claus, it's good to see you boys again." The woman at the cashier said to them with a smile. "What will it be this time?"

"A nut bread and a bread roll please." Lucas said ever so politely.

"Alright. That'll be 42 DP." She said.

DP stand for Dragon Points, they are the currency. Basically Dragon Points are coins with a dragon head and tail on the other side.

Lucas handed her the money but he held his head with his other hand. Claus took the two bread they ordered and looked at Lucas. "We better take you home."

* * *

"Woof!" Boney suddenly barked.

Claus turned to Boney, he seemed to be barking at something outside the bakery. The two boys hurried out and almost crashed into a young woman with pink hair.

"Whoa!" They yelped.

"Hey, watch where you're going! You almost crashed into me!" The young girl snapped.

"S-sorry." Lucas apologized.

Claus frowned a bit at her attitude, but said, "We're sorry, but we're kinda in a hurry. Lucas needs to get to bed."

"Hmm?" The young woman looked at Lucas. "What's wrong with him?"

Claus was about to answer 'none of your business lady', but Lucas beat him to it. "I just have a really bad headache…"

"Hmm…" The lady suddenly put her hand over his forehead. "Feels like you got a pretty bad fever too."

"H-hey, don't touch him!" Claus frowned. "L-Lucas, you have a fever?" The orange haired boy said with worry, putting his hand on his brother's forehead. He hissed before removing his hand. "O-oh no! We've gotta tell Dad!"

"Relax kid, I think I may know what's wrong with him." The woman suddenly said.

"What? How could you know what's wrong with him? Are you some kind of doctor?" Claus asked, hugging his brother protectively.

"You could say that. What's your name, kid?" The young lady asked feverish boy.

"I'm Lucas…" Lucas answered.

"Don't give this strange lady your name." Claus reprimanded, but only halfheartedly.

"I think she can help… and I don't think she means anything bad." Lucas said to Claus, sounding tired and weak.

"Tell me Lucas, where does it hurt?" The pink haired girl asked, ignoring Claus's comment.

"Everywhere in my head… but I guess… it hurts more around my forehead." Lucas said as he shut his eyes and rubbed his head again.

"I knew it." The lady said. "My name is Kumatora and I know what's wrong with you."

"Y-you do?" Both Lucas and Claus asked.

"Woof!" Boney barked.

"Yes, but you better come with me. This isn't the best place to talk about the… _unique_ fever." Kumatora said as she looked around cautiously.

"Where are you taking him?" Claus demanded.

"To a safe place. You can come too if you're _that_ worried, kid." Kumatora said to him.

"The name's Claus." The ginger boy huffed. "And I'm his twin brother, so heck yeah I'm _that_ worried."

"B-but the bread…" Lucas looked at the bags in his hands.

Claus took the bags and put them on Boney's back. "Boney, can you take these back home? Don't eat them, give them to Dad."

"Woof! Woof!" Boney barked with a nod.

"Good boy." Claus said as he petted him. "Now go."

Boney ran off towards their house.

* * *

"Good, now come on." Kumatora said as she began walking ahead.

Claus had to help his brother walk since he was so weak and his headache kept getting worse. Claus worried more the further they walked, they were walking away from the village and into the forest.

"How much further? Lucas isn't looking too good here and you still haven't told us what's wrong with him!" Claus snapped, losing his patience after feeling his brother's temperature rising.

"It's not that much farther kid. And he'll have to endure it a little longer, the fever won't kill him, I promise." Kumatora hissed back before they walked into a clearing.

They soon came up to the mountains and in the clearing, Claus and Lucas were surprised to see a single strange pink seashell with a door. It was apparently someone's house. Kumatora was heading towards it and Claus felt more uneasy.

Kumatora knocked the door, "Hey, I found the PSI aura I've been sensing!"

The door opened and revealed… some weird… man… lady… person. Claus wasn't even sure how to describe it. It looked like a man in a feminine way with pink hair.

"Oh Kumatora, you've returned much sooner than expected." The man lady said with a big smile on its face.

"Well the power was pretty hard to miss, it's energy is vast." Kumatora said.

"Excuse me! What are you two talking about? Why did we bring my brother here? Is he… she… a doctor or what?" Claus demanded, still helping his brother lean on him.

"Oh my, what cute little boys you brought Kumatora~! Seems the blond haired one has the PSI fever." The man lady said with a smile.

"I… I have… what?" Lucas weakly asked.

"PSI fever darling~ Didn't Kumatora tell you?"

"No, she didn't tell us a dang thing." Claus glared.

"Oh dear. Well no wonder you're so worried." The man lady said. "My name is Aeolia, I'm a Magypsy."

Claus and Lucas blinked at that.

"A Magypsy is a PSI master, immortal beings if you will." Aeolia explained and giggled at their surprised expressions.

"That's great and all, but what's 'PSI' and why does my brother have that fever?" Claus demanded.

"PSI is psionics or psychokinesis. Whenever the ability to use PSI is waking up inside a person, it will give them a PSI fever first. Once they endure the fever for a short time they awaken a new PSI power." Aeolia explained.

"Wait, as in psychic powers? … My own brother, _Lucas_ , is PSYCHIC?" Claus looked at his brother, who looked weak but seemed just as surprised. "How?"

"Nobody knows where the PSI comes from really, just that certain people are born with it and it awakens at some point in their life." Kumatora said. "Whether it's through maturity, mentality or through great danger."

"Seems our cute little Lucas here is awakening his. I can sense strong magic energy within you, it's making me tingle~" Aeolia said with a giggle.

Claus frowned a bit, his brother was getting psychic powers? "A-are you sure about this?"

"Don't worry. The awakening is always the hardest, but once it's over he'll be perfectly fine." Aeolia reassured. "But there is a way to awaken his powers faster."

"H-how?" Lucas asked, wanting to be rid of this painful fever.

"Come over here, darling~" Aeolia said as 'she' gestured him to 'her'.

"W-what? No way. We can't just trust a strange man… lady… to _not_ do something suspicious!" Claus rejected.

"C-Claus… it's okay… I'll be fine." Lucas said weakly.

"L-Lucas, how do you even know these people aren't just insane?" Claus frowned worriedly.

"Hey! We're not insane!" Kumatora snapped. "If you want proof PSI is real then look over here!"

Claus looked over to her, mostly because she was yelling. "PK Fire!" She had a small flame over her hand, making the orange haired boy jump back in shock.

"Well, do you believe now?" Kumtatora said with a smug smirk as she easily dissipated the flame.

"P-please… if you can… h-help me…" Lucas began saying before grabbing his head again.

Claus bit his lip before he sighed, reluctantly nodding. "Alright… I trust you'll take care of my brother."

* * *

Lucas approached Aeolia and 'she' put 'her' hand on his forehead. Claus watched anxiously as his twin closed his eyes. For a second, it seemed nothing would happen, but then… Lucas suddenly began squirming and shut his eyes tightly.

"L-Lucas!" Claus called in concern, clenching his fist worriedly.

"It's okay, just endure it." Aeolia said. "Kumatora, hold him down."

Kumatora quickly hurried over to them and held down the blond haired boy, who was groaning in pain and squirmed. Claus's heart froze when he saw his brother in such pain. He wanted to yell at them to let him go, to stop hurting him, to get away from him, but the orange haired boy found himself frozen stiff and couldn't do anything but watch as his brother suffered. And almost as quickly as it began it stopped, and Lucas calmed down as his body relaxed.

"There, it is done. Lucas has awakened~" Aeolia announced proudly.

Claus managed to unfreeze himself and hurried over to his brother's side. "L-Lucas! Lucas, are you okay? I-I'm so sorry! I didn't think they'd hurt you! Please tell me you're alright!"

"Ugh… Claus, I'm fine, just give me a minute. It felt like my body was just hit by lightning." Lucas groaned.

"What did you _do_ to him?" Claus demanded the self proclaimed Magypsy.

"Calm down. I simply helped awaken the PSI within him. I warned you the awakening would be the hardest~" Aeolia said with a giggle.

Lucas sat up as Claus and Kumatora helped him get to his feet, the former still being worried.

"Now Lucas, when I say the letters 'PK', what comes to mind?" Aeolia asked.

The blond haired boy answered automatically. "Lifeup, Healing, Love."

Claus had no idea why he was saying that, but both Kumatora and Aeolia looked taken aback and shocked.

"Love? Oh my… he's the one." Aeolia said with a whisper.

"Wow, I can't believe we found him already." Kumatora said. "And he knows Lifeup and Healing, sounds like he'll be an assist PSI user."

"Wait, what's going on? What's so special about this 'Love' thing?" Claus demanded.

Aeolia gave a giggle before it answered, "Well dear boy, PK Love is a very rare PSI. Perhaps one of the most powerful. Even us Magypsies could never use such a rare ability."

"PK Love? Sounds kinda girly…" Claus grumbled.

"Um… how could I use it?" Lucas asked curiously.

"It's simple, really simple." Aeolia said.

"All you have to do is concentrate and say the words 'PK Love'. But be careful, PSI will drain you mentally, so don't use too much." Kumatora warned.

"Go ahead and use it~ It'll be fun to see PK Love in action~" Aeolia said with an eager smile.

"B-but what if I hurt someone?" Lucas asked with a concerned frown.

"It's okay, you won't." Aeolia assured him.

"O-okay, if you say so." Lucas said.

"It'll help if you raise your hand." Kumatora suggested.

Claus frowned but decided to watch and see if his brother can really use psychic powers. Lucas raised his hand and focused on what he loved. That was easy; his family. His mother, his father, and his twin brother Claus. "PK Love!" His hand sparked blue and a huge blue energy beam came out of his hand and created a hexagonal explosion around a barrier. Aeolia set up a psychic barrier so Lucas wouldn't hurt anyone.

"W-whoa…" Both Lucas and Claus were amazed by this.

* * *

 _It was then I had witnessed something amazing. I always knew my brother was special, but this just further cements it. I never knew Lucas could have psychic powers, let alone one this powerful and apparently it's legendary. But this did make it hard for me. It became increasingly difficult to not be jealous of him. I was envious of him, but not jealous. I had to keep visiting Mom's grave and pray that I wouldn't fall for the green eyed monster that Mom used to tell stories to us about and how it could ruin innocent lives so easily. I didn't want that, so I had to keep myself from falling into deep jealousy. I love my brother and I'm happy for him that he can become strong with these PSI powers._

 _Of course, with these new PSI powers, it brought over more of those Magypsies. One in particular named Ionia seemed especially interested in helping Aeolia and Kumatora train Lucas in utilizing his PSI and help him learn more. I stopped following him. It was clear I had no reason to be there. Lucas was training his PSI, but I didn't have any so I just stayed home. Dad didn't seem to mind us going out, as long as we help out while we're here._

 _For weeks now Kumatora visited us and Lucas would go with her to train with Aeolia and Ionia. I felt so useless and lonely. Lucas and I used to stick together, but now… the villagers are calling me the loner since they saw Lucas going with that Kumatora girl all the time, probably thinking he scored her or something. I didn't dare let Lucas know I felt envious and left out, I would put on a mask and smile at him whenever he tells me he learned a new PSI and gotten stronger. I wanted him to know I was supporting him, and I didn't want him to feel guilty for leaving me behind. He had always been the nicer twin, the twin everybody likes... the better twin._

* * *

Claus was looking at his plate of omelette and just fiddled it with his fork. Lucas had already gone out with Kumatora today. Flint sat down and frowned as he moved his cowboy hat back. "What's the matter son? You haven't touched your omelette today."

"I guess I just miss Lucas." Claus sighed. "I don't know if you noticed, Dad, but he hasn't been around a lot lately."

"Ah yes, ever since you two met Kumatora he's been hanging out with her a lot." Flint said. "You should tell him. I'm sure Lucas doesn't know he's making you feel lonely."

"No… I don't want him to think I'm jealous or trying to hold him back." Claus said, looking away. Flint didn't know that Lucas can use PSI, he just know he hangs out with the Princess of the former Osohe Castle a lot.

"Well if you don't tell him, he'll never know the problem." Flint said. "It's important to talk when you have a problem."

Claus just sighed and Flint shrugged, "But it's up to you son. We're out of mushrooms, so we better get more in the forest today."

"I'll get them. Maybe it'll be a good distraction." Claus volunteered.

* * *

When Claus walked into town, he was passing by Fassad. His head started hurting all of a sudden but he ignored it. Fassad looked over in his direction, but the boy didn't notice as he continued his way to the forest.

By the time Claus entered the forest his headache had gotten worse. He groaned as he rubbed his head, not noticing the red tint on his face. "Ugh… It feels like I banged my head on the mountainside or something… it freaking hurts!"

The boy walked further into the forest, he wasn't even sure which way he was going, he just wished his head would stop aching. The boy stumbled and realized he just walked past the forest and was on the rocky mountain base. "Oh man… I just went past the forest. Greeeeat."

Claus turned back, trying to resist his headache, when what sounded like stomping footsteps came close. The boy froze in cold panic when he heard and felt the huge footsteps coming closer to him. Gulping and pleading mentally, he turned around and saw the same Mecha Drago that killed his and Lucas's mother a year ago there. It gave a loud roar and made Claus yelp and run.

The Mecha Drago stomped towards him, roaring as it tried to bite down. Claus, despite his major headache, managed to keep running. The boy hurried down into the forest while the Mecha Drago kept going after him, not slowing down. Claus panted as he felt much weaker than he usually is, but that didn't stop his adrenaline as he hurried to hide. The boy scanned the area quickly before diving into some bushes. He quickly froze and stayed absolutely still as the Mecha Drago began stomping his way.

The Mecha Drago stopped as it began to looking around, probably trying to find him. Claus forced his body to stay still, he wouldn't allow himself to tremble in fear, it would give him away. _Why is that Drago here!? Why did it come down from the mountain? Why is it going after me specifically!?_

Then the Mecha Drago roared before stomping towards Claus as if it heard his thoughts. Claus's eyes widen in shock before he jumped out of the bushes and ran just before its giant foot crushed the bushes completely. Claus panted as he forced his body to run. He groaned as his headache became more severe but he couldn't afford to stop and yell in pain or he'll be joining his mother much sooner than he had wanted.

"S-stay away from me!" Claus shouted desperately as the Mecha Drago continued to chase him.

The headache was so severe that Claus's legs buckled and caused him to fall to the ground. The boy turned and saw, with blurry eyes, the half machine dinosaur right over him. It gave a fearsome roar as it lunged down, opening its large jaws, showing deadly sharp teeth ready to pierce him. Claus screamed as he felt like his head exploded and the tingly sensation like being hit by strong electricity went through his body.

Believing he was dying from this weird illness and about to die anyway from this crazy Drago one thing went through his mind. _Mom… Dad… Boney… Lucas… I'm sorry… I love you all._ As if his body was on automatic he lifted his hands and shouted, "PK LOVE!"

A powerful blue beam of psychic energy shot out from his hands and exploded hexagonally into the Mega Drago's face, causing it to be pushed back and hit the ground hard. Claus's eyes was wide in shock and fear, and he panted from exhaustion. His headache was gone, but he still felt very tired and weak.

And to make it worse, the Mecha Drago wasn't done yet. It managed to get back on its feet despite that fall and being hit in the face by a PK Love. It roared angrily as it approached Claus. Claus shut his eyes, preparing for the end.

"Gotcha!" Claus suddenly felt someone grabbed him and jumped just before the Mecha Dragon could bite down on him.

"W-wah?" Claus opened his eyes. "F-Fassad?"

"Hang in there kid, I'll get us somewhere safe. You rest now." Fassad said to him.

Claus groaned as his eyes felt very heavy. Not being able to fight off the fatigue and the need to rest, the boy closed his eyes and he was out cold.

* * *

 **Now that you've reached the end of the chapter I'll explain a few things. As you may have noticed- for those of you familiar with Mother 3 characters anyway- Claus is more shy and logical and less hasty and impatient than he is in the game, already that is enough to create an alternate timeline where he didn't decide to go fight the Mecha Drago. This will become more important later. Lucas is a bit more outgoing and a little less shy than his game counterpart, but he still retains his timid and lovable nature so don't worry about that. And yes, Lucas gets his PSI before Claus does in order for this to work. Chapter 1 certainly does look like Claus is the central character, but actually both him and Lucas are the central characters here, you'll see in later chapters. I just have more ideas for Claus than I do for Lucas early on. And yes, Fassad isn't a sadistic, mean jerk like he was in the game, that's already becoming apparent here. And anyways folks while it's AU I do try to keep everything else similar to the game itself. I hope you guys leave a review on what you think of it so far and if you want to see more of this story. Until then, I am DarkFoxKit and I look forward to hearing from you.**

 **And on a special side note. I've uploaded this on a friend of mine's birthday. Key2DestNE HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! :D**


	2. Chapter 2: Training and Defending

**Hi again dear readers! I know it's only been two days since I've updated, but I've decided to try and update this every Monday on a weekly basis. Monday could use some love and I'm already updating another story on a Friday. I just figured you guys would want another chapter before the long weekly waits. You'll also get to see how different things are in the story in this chapter. I'll answer back some of the reviews I've gotten.**

 **Dodgers3: I'm glad you like it enough to want to replay EarthBound... even though this is set in the Mother 3's universe. ^^'**

 **JustMe. Hi: I'm not gonna answer whether or not Fassad turns Claus into the Masked Man, that's something you'll have to find out later. :) And thank you, I'm glad you love, love, love this story!**

 **thekingdomheartsfan: Um... thank you...? There's a lot of video games I like, but it takes time for me to come up with a story for them. And I've told Key. :3**

 **Nightfrightpony: I am continuing it.**

 **SuperMarioFan5000: Yeah, if it was the Fassad from the game. Let's see how things turn out with Claus then, shall we?**

 **Alright, that's all the reviewers I have now. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Training and Defending**

Claus regain half consciousness when he felt he was on something cold and he heard people talking around him, but he could hardly understand them due to being half conscious.

"... re you… ure? He can… K Love?"

"Saw with… eyes."

"Fix hi… needs to get better soon."

Claus felt a prick in his neck before he succumbed to darkness once again.

Claus groaned as he regained consciousness, this time fully. The ginger boy sat up from the bed and noticed that he wasn't in his room… or his house at all. Instead he appeared to be in a dull gray looking room.

"Nwehehehe! Well look who finally rejoins the living." Claus nearly flinched when he heard a voice close by. It was Fassad, the man gave him a smile. "Sorry about that weird laugh, it's a habit I'm trying to break. How are you feeling, kid?"

"... I feel a little sore… but I think I'm okay." Claus answered softly. "What happened to me?" his memory was a little hazy, he remembered being chased by that Drago and Fassad coming in, but that was it.

"You were being chased by a Mecha Drago." Fassad explained. "Now believe it or not, it wasn't acting wild. Something's controlling that Drago and it was aiming for you specifically."

"I could tell." Claus muttered darkly. "But why?"

"It might be because it sensed you were a PSI user. It mostly aims for those who can use PSI." Fassad answered and that caught Claus off guard.

"PSI…? But… I can't use… PSI…" The orange haired boy said slowly.

"You may not remember it, but I saw you using PK Love against that Mecha Drago. When you were leaving the village to go into the forest, I sensed you had PSI fever and followed you." Fassad answered. "But I didn't save you right away because I had to know what PSI you would use. A person's PSI awakens almost immediately if put in great danger after all."

"Y-you… you were _there_ and you didn't save me just to see what I would do!?" Claus snapped. "I could've DIED!"

"Calm down, I would've made sure you would live don't worry. If I had saved you prematurely you would've had to suffer the PSI fever much longer and I didn't think you'd like that." Fassad said calmly.

Claus frowned, he couldn't bring himself to be that angry with Fassad since the man _did_ save his life after all. But what Fassad said began to sink in. "PSI fever… Wait, I can use PSI?"

"Yes. I sensed a great amount of psychic energy within you when you passed me by, and I had to know if you were the one." Fassad explained.

"... You mean with the PK Love?" Claus asked for clarification.

Fassad nodded, "Yes, and you can indeed use it."

"But…" Claus frowned in confusion. "If I had this power all along, then why did… why couldn't the Magypsies sense it then? They kept saying only Lucas had…" he knew he shouldn't be saying these things aloud, but he couldn't help it; he was confused.

Fassad seem to have a look of realization. "So your brother has it too? I guess it would make sense since you are twins. But you see, Magypsies and other PSI users can't sense psychic energy within a person while it's still in dormant. Once the PSI fever kicks in that's when we can sense it."

Claus gave a bitter chuckle, "So once again I'm behind my brother and following in his footsteps. It seems hardly fair, it's like I'm the younger twin that needs protecting." The boy sighed before he asked, "Fassad, why did you bring me here? Where am I anyways?"

"This is an underground base. I took you here to save you from that Mecha Drago and because I wanted you to meet someone." Fassad said.

"Who?" Claus asked.

"I believe that would be me." The boy heard a voice wheezing a bit.

* * *

A short, chubby looking old boy came in with a high-tech looking wheel chair. The wheel chair could actually levitate. "Greetings. My name is Porky. *cough, wheeze* Sorry about that."

"Porky? … You must be this King P Fassad kept talking about back in the village." Claus noted. "But why did you introduce money and technology to our village? We were better off without it. Now people are getting greedy."

Porky wheezed a bit before he said, "I apologize. It was not my intention to bring greed into this village. I had my men introduce the concept of money and technology to try and help improve it… unfortunately, greed isn't something I can stop no matter what."

"Improve? We were doing just fine without it." Claus glared accusingly.

Porky coughed and wheezed before he said, "Technology can actually help. *wheeze* Like the hospital for example… less people dies from diseases and injuries. Money helps give them supplies and motivation. *cough* I will admit there are times when it backfires… *wheeze* But nothing is perfect."

Claus frowned a bit but didn't say anything.

Porky continued, "Now there's something you should know about me… *wheeze* I'm actually immortal. Due to time traveling, my body can't die anymore. *cough, wheeze* But I was a bad boy for a long time. I thought the world as my play thing. *wheeze* But not anymore. I want to repent and help rebuild this world."

"Rebuild it? What do you mean by that?" Claus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Fassad." Porky said.

"Right, I will tell him sir." Fassad said with a respectful bow. "You said you've met with some Magypsies before, right? But they didn't tell you about the legend behind PK Love?"

"... Legend? … They just said it's a very rare and powerful PSI." Claus shrugged.

Fassad sighed, "I suppose they wouldn't tell you until they thought it was time. Well Claus, you may not know this, but outside of this island you live in there is a world of ruins. It suffered devastation, there's no life outside of this island, it's horrible. The Magypsies believe the only way to restore this world is to have it recreated and reborn anew. There are seven Magypsies who each guard a Needle. These seven Needles are what keeps the legendary Dark Dragon asleep under the island. Once all seven Needles are pulled, the Magypsies will disappear and the Dark Dragon will wake up, destroying the world and possibly make a new one in its place."

"... Possibly?"

"Well, the Dark Dragon will inherit the heart of whom pulls the Needles, whether it be the wishes of a good heart or an evil heart. And only those capable of using PK Love can pull the Needles."

Claus was silent for a minute, letting that sink in. Seven Needles, seven Magypsies. "If this world is destroyed to be reborn… then what would happen to everyone here?"

"That's… *wheeze* exactly the question we thought." Porky spoke up. "And it's not just that, but we feel that the world wouldn't be much better off if it was reborn anyways."

"But why not?" Claus asked, wondering how the world outside the islands he lived on could possibly be so horrible.

Fassad spoke up this time. "Think about it; the world ended up this way because of the evil in people. What difference would it make if the world is reborn if the cycle will just repeat anyway? We feel it's up to us to rebuild the world we destroyed so carelessly. And there's no guarantee anyone would survive the cataclysm the Dark Dragon will bring once it awakens."

"But how could we fix something that's already dead?" Claus asked.

"It's possible. Animals are dying out there. *wheeze* No matter what we do, they die when they get out there. We are *cough* trying to repopulate the places out there, but *wheeze* the animals can't survive. So we had to do something drastic." Porky said and frowned. "We had to mutate them into chimeras."

"... Mutated animals? Chimeras?" Claus asked. He couldn't help but think about how extreme it sounded. Do these animals really help the environment or even the animals themselves?

"We had to combine animals with each other, sometimes with technology itself. It's not something we're proud of, but it was the only way to get them to survive out there." Fassad said grimly. "With these mutations, much of the lands out there are slowly being rebuilt."

Claus thought about this to himself. These people didn't seem so bad anymore, unlike how he originally thought when they first came into the islands and transformed Tazmily.

"They're not perfect, though." Fassad added. "Such as the Mecha Drago, at times they can go rampant."

"... What? _You_ made that Drago?!" Claus snapped angrily. At this, every developing notion he had of them having good intentions dropped. "That mutated monster you created _killed_ my mom!"

"Calm down now. The Mecha Drago going on a rampage wasn't our fault. Something took over it, some evil entity." Fassad said calmly. "It's been doing it to regular animals too."

"But you still created it!" Claus said, letting anger get the better of him. He had always thought that the Drago's attack was the Drago's fault, but now these people in front of him… he realized _these_ were the people who started making his life go upside-down. "If it hadn't been here in the first place, my family wouldn't be grieving all this time!"

"Relax, relax." Fassad said, trying to calm down the boy. Claus paused, and slowly relaxed himself though he still had a large frown and a faint red in his face from anger. "As we have said, that Drago malfunctioning is not our fault. We still strive to rebuild this world, and think about it: if we hadn't been here, the other Magypsies would have been free to destroy this world and everyone in it, on the off chance that it could be reborn anew."

"We are simply just trying to rebuild the world." Porky added, "*wheeze* It'll take a long time, but we're confident we can do it. *cough* But we're going to need as much help as we can get. *wheeze* We have to send out people to help populate the land. Technology is the only way they can survive in such desolated places until we can regrow vegetation."

"But most of all we can't have anyone pull the Needles. If that happens then all our hard work would be destroyed and nobody will survive to live in that new world." Fassad said grimly.

Claus had calmed down considerably as Porky and Fassad explained their ideals further. As he thought about it again… he supposed that they had good intentions, and if it was really better that they rebuild this world rather than let it be demolished… "... Fine, but... I should tell this to Lucas. He's the only other one I know who can use PK Love."

"No. *cough* Many people may agree and many may not. We all have different ideals, and the people in Tazmily may not agree with me. You must not let them know you were ever here or that you knew me." Porky warned him.

"... But if I explain it to him, he might understand that-"

"It wouldn't work." Fassad said grimly. "Your brother is being trained under the Magypsies themselves, he would of course believe that our own motives are wrong compared to the Magypsies, no matter how much you try to persuade him."

"Why not? Are the Magypsies evil?" Claus asked, frowning and now worried for his brother.

"They're not evil… they just… believe in using the Dark Dragon very strongly." Fassad spoke with a bit of disdain in his tone. "They don't believe the humans have what it takes to fix their mistakes."

Claus paused. He thought about what he was about to say. These two were the very reason that his mother had died, how his whole life and family turned upside-down since his mother's death, but… they had very good reasons for doing what they wanted to do and it wasn't like they _wanted_ to kill her. If he helped them, maybe Claus could finally be _something_ like his brother, helping others in rebuilding this world.

Claus hesitated for a moment, but he quickly nodded his head firmly and asked them, "... Then would it be alright if I could join and help out too?"

"You? But you're still so young." Fassad said in surprise from the sudden offer.

"But I want to help. Lucas had always been someone everybody likes and how I'm always supposedly following him. But I want to help, not because he's doing it, but because _I_ want to. Please, just give me a chance. You could help teach me how to fight and train me in how to use my PSI." Claus begged.

Fassad and Porky looked at each other before Porky said, "If you insist, then you may join. *wheeze* *cough* But I have to warn you that people will rebel and fight back."

"I can handle them." Claus said with determination.

"Very well. Fassad will help you with your training. *wheeze* Until then… *cough* I pray for your and all of our success." Porky said before moving his levitating chair out of the room.

Fassad looked at Claus and said, "So when I say 'PK', what comes to mind?"

Before Claus could even think to answer, the reply came out of his mouth, "Fire, Thunder, Love."

"Ah, so you're more of an offensive PSI user." Fassad noted.

"I guess I am. My brother Lucas is more of an assist PSI user, at least that's what those Magypsies said." Claus commented.

"Twins complete each other, two halves of a whole. Nweheh-" Fassad chuckled before cutting himself off from his laughter. "But while the others handle your brother, I'll be seeing to your training. Now buckle up, we are going to work you hard!"

"But uh… don't I need to go home too? I mean Dad and Lucas might get worried." Claus spoke up.

"Oh don't worry, we'll be sure to send you home after every training session." Fassad then gave a sinister smirk, making the orange haired boy nervous. "Nwehehehe... And I can be a strict teacher."

 _What have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

"GAH!" Claus fell to the ground in pain after being electrocuted for the fifth time that day. The boy was wearing a shock collar around his neck.

"Try again!" Fassad snapped.

"Why am I wearing this thing again?" Claus growled, pulling at the collar around his neck.

"It'll give you motivation." Fassad said. "It's also a good way to train new recruits. Now use your PSI Fire again, but you have to concentrate or nothing will happen!"

Claus groaned as he stood back up and tried to imagine flames consuming wood. "PK Fire!" He shot out some flames from his hand.

"Now attack! You can't let the enemy get the upper hand!" Fassad suddenly bum rushed at Claus.

"Wah!" Claus panicked at the sudden incoming attack and was knocked to the side. "Ow…"

Fassad sighed before pushing the button on a small hand held device, causing the collar to shock Claus. "You've got a lot to learn kid."

There were people watching. Claus had learned they were called Pigmasks. The pink colored uniforms were the lowest ranks, blues are in the Captain rank, then it was green next as they are the Major rank and finally, the more rare color is the white, which is the Colonel rank. Fassad seems to be the Commander of them. Many of the Pigmasks snickered and whispered among each other how silly it was that a random kid was being let in as a part of Porky's army.

* * *

 _Before I was sent home that day, Fassad introduced me to their best scientist. He was a somewhat goofy old man, kinda short with spiral glasses and a lab coat. They called him Dr. Andonuts and he gave me a strange looking silver bracelet. He told me to keep it on at all times outside of this base as it will suppress my PSI's aura and keep the Magypsies, Kumatora and even Lucas from sensing my PSI._

 _For days and weeks I've been training with Fassad. He would use a strange vehicle to take me back home after using the Instant Revitalizing Chamber to heal all my injuries and fatigue so Dad and Lucas wouldn't get worried or suspicious. Lucas still went to go train with Kumatora, but now I too had my own training schedule to keep. I was thankful Dad didn't bring this up, noticing that we both kept leaving often._

 _But no matter how much I trained I couldn't seem to get any better. Fighting with my fists weren't getting me anywhere and I get too exhausted too easily every time I use my PSI. The shock collar isn't helping so I don't know why Fassad keeps insisting I wear it… I'm starting to see why the monkey left, this guy's got a sick sense of humor._

* * *

Claus was on a cot in a small room, trying to recover from this morning's training. Training usually lasted until evening, but he was thankful for the break in-between. Fassad had forbidden him to use the Revitalizing Chamber until it was time for him to go back home. When he asked why, Fassad simply said it's so he doesn't get too spoiled by it.

The doors open and Claus quickly sat up when someone in a white Pigmask suit came in. It was a Colonel and Claus quickly stood up and saluted uneasily. Although Porky and Fassad hadn't given him a uniform, Claus knew his place was among the pink Pigmasks.

"Oh, I wasn't expecting anyone here." The white Pigmask said.

"I was just resting from today's training, sir." Claus said in respect.

"At ease."

Claus relaxed from the salute.

"So you're the PSI new recruit. You're pretty famous around here." The Pigmask Colonel said with a chuckle. "Don't worry, Fassad gives every new recruit a hard time. It pays off in the long run and it'll be worth it once you get that shock collar off."

Claus grumbled, "I don't think so. I thought I was pretty good at fighting since I used to wrestle with Dragos… even if it was just play fighting… but I keep getting my butt kicked around here. Everyone keeps laughing at me. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this."

The Pigmask Colonel sighed as he sat on the cot beside Claus, surprising the young 11 year old. "Well young man, I used to think the same way. When I was younger and was first recruited I felt like such a failure. I couldn't keep up with the rest of the new recruits and I kept getting my butt kicked. I was the last of my fellow new recruits to finally get the shock collar off. I was clumsy and nobody believed I could amount to much here. Well guess what? I proved them wrong and became one of the greatest Colonels. Many of my fellow recruits are probably only Majors, Captains or heck still the lowest ranking."

Claus looked at him. Despite the mask, Claus could tell the person was smiling at him. "How did you do it?"

"It's simple; I never gave up. If one way of fighting doesn't work for you, you'll have to find your own way. Maybe you're not the type of guy who can use fists to fight, maybe you need a weapon of some sort. You should keep trying until you can find what works for you." The Pigmask Colonel said.

* * *

 _After hearing what that white Pigmask said I took the advice to heart. Whenever Fassad took me home I would look for a weapon I could potentially use. I tried to use a projectile like a rock, but a projectile can only work when I have ammo. I wanted to try something that was more close range. I was thinking about something heavy like a club or an axe, something that Isaac or Lighter uses. Dad uses heavy wood to strike down strong animals. But I couldn't lift such heavy things and I honestly prefer to being able to attack swiftly._

 _So I went with something lighter. I decided to use a stick. Yeah a stick didn't seem like such a good weapon, but it was the only thing I could think of. I practiced swinging it at little bugs first, and sometimes at bats if they were lurking around and attack me. While I was practicing with my stick I sometimes spot Lucas doing the same with his own stick. I would hide whenever I saw Lucas, not wanting him to know my recruitment with Porky. Lucas was pretty good with that stick, I guess he was training how to fight with more than just his PSI too._

 _When I went back to training, things started getting better. I managed to concentrate on my PSI more and managed to push back Fassad and smacking him with my stick. Fassad had less and less reason to shock me. Eventually I got to the point of getting the collar taken off of me and I was so relieved. I even managed to learn a few new PSI out of that: Offense Down, Defense Down and Freeze._

 _Since then, I've been training hard to fight better with other Pigmasks. I learn more about what they do, such as making colonies to help rebuild the land and their job is to try and find the vegetation that can sustain itself and produce around the land to help make it flourish. Things were going pretty well for me, that is until we got our first alarm from an attack by enemies._

* * *

It had been almost half a year since Claus joined the Pigmask. Lucas still had no idea he could use PSI or that he joined them. Claus feels like the two of them have been growing apart recently and it made him feel sad.

"Fassad, think I could head home early today?" Claus asked after he defeated another low ranking Pigmask in a sparring match. The boy upgraded his stick to a wooden staff.

"Oh? Why?" Fassad asked.

"It's just since I've been going home around evening and focus on training I haven't been able to really connect with my family lately." Claus explained. "I was hoping maybe I could have a day off or something so I could."

"Hmm… Well…" Fassad began to think about it.

Suddenly there was a loud blaring alarm that shook the entire base. The Pigmasks all began oinking in panic as they were scrambling around. Claus tried to shut his ears. "WHAT'S GOING ON!?"

Fassad paled. "Oh no… not now!"

"Fassad! What's wrong?" Claus demanded as Fassad suddenly grabbed his arm and began running down the hall.

"We're being under attack!" Fassad said before grabbing a megaphone and shouted into it. "ALL SOLDIERS GET TO YOUR BATTLE STATIONS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A DRILL!"

Claus looked around frantically. The boy hadn't been expecting to have to fight an enemy so soon. He had hoped that he would get more experience before then, he was still in the lowest rank after all despite never getting a uniform. "Who's attacking us?"

"... Traitors." Fassad answered grimly.

"Traitors?" Claus frowned in confusion.

"Some Pigmasks that used to work with us turned traitor and vowed to destroy us if we keep going with our idea. We believe the evil entity warped their minds to be like this. They can't be reasoned with like this." Fassad explained. "I can't believe they're attacking us now."

"Why not? If they're the enemy then why wouldn't they?"

"You don't understand. They shouldn't know where the base is! Someone must've tipped them off!" Fassad quickly said. "Claus, this is dangerous, we better get you to safety!"

Claus frowned, he didn't think he was ready to battle yet, but he didn't train his butt off just to hide like a coward. He remembered all too well what happened when the Mecha Drago killed his mother, he won't run away and let that happen again. "No. Fassad, with all due respect, I'm a part of this army now and I should do my part to help fight and defend this world."

"But you're still just a child in training. You've only just gotten the shock collar off recently and we can't afford to have them kidnap you because you can use PK Love." Fassad warned him.

"Then I won't use PK Love until a last resort. I can take care of myself, Fassad. I can't just stand by and let others sacrifice themselves when there's something I could've done to stop that." Claus argued, green eyes full of determination.

"I'm sorry Claus, I know you want to help but you're not ready yet. Just trust me, it's best if you stay here." Fassad said to him in a serious tone that left no room for argument. "Now go to your room and stay there. I'll make sure we drive those traitors away!"

* * *

Claus wanted to fight, wanted to be a part of the army and to do his part, he couldn't stand that he was sitting in his room hiding like a coward. His mother wanted him and Lucas safe when the Mecha Drago attacked them… but because neither he nor Lucas were strong enough, they left her to die. Claus curled his hands into a fist, not realizing he was emanating strong PSI aura due to his emotional stress.

Suddenly he heard footsteps outside his door. Claus stopped and looked up. Had Fassad changed his mind and come back to get him? Suddenly there was a loud BOOM on the other side of the door and the door started to smoke before it fell apart. Claus yelp as he jumped back, seeing a middle aged man wearing a blue suit as he walked in, smirking sinisterly.

The middle aged man was holding a dagger in his hand and he seemed to be eyeing Claus like he's some big, special prize. "I thought I sensed strong PSI coming from this room. I'm surprised you're a child, but child or not you must come with me."

"What? Why? Who are you?" Claus demanded, trying to sound braver than he felt.

"Introductions? Fine. I am Carpainter and I'm a PSI user. I was blessed with this ability from Master. Master told me to fix this world with the Dark Dragon's powers and I will do so no matter what. The new world will replace this ugly one and we can live in a new era."

Claus heard the Pigmasks out there oinking in pain as there was fighting going on out there no doubt. "And why do you want me? I'm just a kid."

"A kid with powerful PSI. You could even be the one, and if you are, I will stop at nothing to get you." Carpainter hissed. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

"I won't go with someone like _you_!" Claus snapped as he grabbed his wooden staff weapon.

"So you want to do this the hard way. May lightning strike you where you stand!" Carpainter growled before lightning strike down at Claus without warning.

"GAH!" The boy yelled in pain as he felt the electricity going through his body before falling to the ground.

"Hmph, this is too easy. Nobody gets in Master's way and not get the judgement they deserve." Carpainter said as he approached the boy.

Claus waited until the man was just over him before he quickly sprang into action and used his wooden staff to whack Carpainter in the face right into the wall. "If you think I go down that easy, especially to a lunatic like you, then you've got another thing coming!"

"Hmph. Very well, I had simply hoped to just knock you out and bring you with me with as little damage as possible, but you've given me no choice." Carpainter ran at Claus.

"PK Fire!" Claus shot out a blast of flames right at the man's face.

Carpainter hissed from the burning fire, but otherwise seemed to be just fine. Claus's eyes widen at this before jumping away to avoid a potential bum rush. All that training with Fassad was finally paying off.

Carpainter smirked as if amused by Claus's reaction as he charged at him again. Claus hit the man with his wooden staff, but he was pushed into the wall despite this. _Ugh… this guy is resilient!_

"Surprised child? You didn't think your little fire could hurt me did you? I've battled with other PSI users before, this suit was designed to minimize most offensive PSI." Carpainter hissed in his ear.

"Get away from me!" Claus smacked him again with his staff, forcing the blue man to back away. "You seem quite fond of your thunder attack."

"Ah yes. Sadly it is the only PSI I was gifted with, but that doesn't mean I won't take any advantage I can get to make it one of the most formidable PSI." Carpainter smirked.

"Well I can use it too. PK Thunder!" Claus shot out lightning at the man. It was weaker than Carpainter's lightning, but it still shocked him, even if it didn't seem to do much. _Dang suit!_

"Boy, did you really think you could best me with my own element? You are far too immature to use it the correct way." Carpainter hissed. "Observe." he raised the dagger before a powerful electricity crackled from his hand.

The dagger in Carpainter's hand suddenly turned a bright electric yellow as it suddenly grew to the length of a sword. The dagger was now an electric sword, absorbing Carpainter's PSI Thunder. Claus's green eyes widen in horror at this. _What the- could PSI even DO that!?_

"Now don't fear, I won't kill you since you could be useful. But that only means I have to keep you _alive_." Carpainter said with such a sinister tone that it made Claus cringe.

Claus yelp when the man charged at him with that now thunder sword in hand. The boy tried to parry it with his wooden staff, but all that did was cause the staff to break. Claus, now weaponless, knew he was way out of his league here. Doing what he believed was best at the time, he quickly ran out the broken door as fast as he could.

 _Fassad was right! I'm way in over my head here! I have to find someone to help!_ Claus thought to himself as he ran.

Hearing footsteps behind him, the boy knew Carpainter was catching up fast. Claus turned and shouted, "PK Fire!" he was using the flames to try and slow down the lightning sword wielding psycho.

"FASSAD! WHERE ARE YOU!?" Claus called.

"Don't let that boy get away!" Carpainter shouted.

The orange haired boy had to stop when people dressed in blue appeared in front of him. Claus tried running the other direction, only to be pushed back by more of those blue people, and suddenly found himself being surrounded. "Please, I don't have what you want. Just let me go!"

"Sorry dear boy, but it's our mission to take any PSI users. Master will be pleased. The Dark Dragon must be released!" Carpainter said with passion as the other strange blue people cheered in agreement.

Claus looked around, seeing no other way out. He gritted his teeth as his hand began to spark a dangerous blue energy. _Looks like I have no choice but to go all out._ "You want me? Then try to catch me. PK LOVE!"

Claus immediately shot out powerful blue energy that gave a hexagonal explosion on everyone around him. The army all screeched in pain, even Carpainter, it seemed his suit wasn't designed to counter PK Love. But to Claus's chagrin, while the others were out cold, Carpainter was still standing and still holding his thunder sword.

"Impressive. So you _do_ wield the legendary PK Love."

 _Where are the Pigmasks?_ Claus nervously thought to himself as he glared at Carpainter.

The boy grabbed the nearest weapon, which was a metal rod, and charged at Carpainter. The man swung his thunder sword, and Claus, knowing he would do that, rolled to the side to avoid being hit and swung the rod like a bat right into the man's back, sending him a good few feet away. Not wanting to hesitate and give Carpainter time to recover, Claus shot out another PK Fire. While the suit helps the man resist the attack it can't block out the burning pain completely, so this gave Claus just enough time to charge and swing his metal rod at the man again.

Carpainter proved to be stronger than the boy had hoped. After being blasted by another PK Fire he had enough sense to swing the thunder sword and it came in contact with the metal rod Claus was holding. The electricity charged up on the metal and zapped the boy, forcing him to drop the rod to the ground with a CLANG.

"Heh, you're more foolish than I thought if you thought a simple PK Fire in the alpha stage could hurt me enough to stop me from swinging my sword at you." The man laughed like Claus was a joke. "You may have PK Love, but you're still just a weak little boy, how pathetic."

Claus groaned, trying to remain conscious. _What can I do? No matter what I throw at him he just keeps getting back up. I'm low on energy… I probably only have enough for one or two more PK Love and that's it. I have to make the best use of it._ The boy looked up from where he was laying, the ceiling looks like it could collapse at any moment. _That's it. If I could get the ceiling to come down on him… it's risky and a long shot, but it's all I've got. I hope Fassad finds us soon._

Carpainter noticed the boy was struggling to stand up. "You may just be a weak little boy, but quite stubborn. No matter, one more thunder attack will make sure you stay out for a long time."

"PK… Thunder!" Claus shot lightning right into the ceiling above them.

"Ha! What are you aiming at? You've lost so much focus that you can't even aim three feet in front of you." Carpainter snickered.

"Wasn't aiming for you." Claus weakly smirked.

The ceiling began cracking and Carpainter noticed. "Why you little brat! BEFALL INTO OBLIVION!"

"PK LOVE!" Claus gave every energy of his being into this PK Love. The blue energy blasted out of his body and hexagonally exploded everywhere around him as the roof came down.

Claus couldn't see what happened to Carptainer, but he heard him scream before he saw something sharp and yellow coming his way. Claus didn't have the energy nor the time to move out of its way before it came in contact with his lower right arm. Claus let out a blood curling scream as he felt the sharp and exploding pain in his right arm, it was pain he had never experienced before. The extreme pain and the exhaustion cause the young boy to collapse in the rubble, the last thing he saw were Pigmasks and Fassad running towards him.

* * *

 **Okay, now I feel I should get this out of the way first; this is not an attempt to poke fun at religion. I am a Christian myself and believe in God. However the story is mostly to make you think about what different paths would you take, which do you think would be for the best and what would you do in order to make it happen. Now that that's out of the way I'm going to point a few things out: I didn't do the weird laugh for Fassad very much in the story so I gave the excuse he's trying to break that habit. As for Porky here, you can decide whether or not he's the same Porky from the game who managed to escape the- *spoiler alert* Absolute Safe Capsule and went back in time again, this time wanting to repent for his evil ways by rebuilding the world instead of making it his play thing. As for Carpainter, yes I know he's from EarthBound and not Mother 3, but he was fitting for this part and I think the battle scene between the two went pretty well. Originally this battle scene was meant for chapter 3, but I decided to put into chapter 2 since the chapter itself was too short. And yes, like I said before; time skips, montages and exposition will be in either Claus's or Lucas's thoughts as to not drag out the story. If you're the type of person who likes to see the little details of what they're doing then I suggest waiting for that spin-off series I've mentioned in the previous chapter's Author Notes. Anyways, I think that's all I have to say for now. If you have questions feel free to ask and I'll try my best to answer them. I am DarkFoxKit and I look forward to hearing from you!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Morning Sun

**Okay, so this story is still under the radar. So I'll probably keep some of the chapters short until I know people actually want to read it. Now about that spin off series... I don't plan to do it unless I know this story has a lot of readers enjoying it. Because what's the point of a spin off if the based franchise for it isn't well known, am I right? And anyways, yes Carpainter is the Happy Happy guy from Earthbound. Anyways I don't see any real reason to make a response to the reviewers other than to answer that one question because... there isn't much to say. Uh... was the battle in the last chapter even good? ... Anyways, here's the next chapter. This one focuses on Lucas on now, told ya that this is about both of the brothers!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Mother or Earthbound series. I just play the games.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The Morning Sun**

Meanwhile, back in Tazmily Village… The place has been developing at a fast rate since Fassad introduced the concept of money and technology, so fast that it almost scared Lucas. The blond haired and younger twin was at home with his father, helping him cook tonight's dinner.

"Lucas, have you seen your brother Claus?" Flint asked his son. "It's getting late and he's usually home the same time as you."

Lucas frowned as he said, "No, I haven't seen him lately…"

* * *

 _If there's one thing that I regret over the course of six months it's that I haven't been spending time with my twin brother lately. Ever since I gained the ability to use PSI, Kumatora and the Magypsies has been training me._

 _Aeolia and Ionia mostly helped me with my PSI while Kumatora taught me how to fight without using them or how to use them during a battle. They had me practice against some wild animals, which I only knock out, I hate hurting them too much. Ever since then, I've gotten better. I can use a wooden staff to hit hard when I need to. And I've learned a few new PSI, such as PK Flash, Offense up, Defense up, Shield and Lifeup Beta, which is better than Lifeup Alpha._

 _I had noticed that Claus leaves almost the same time I do, sometimes before I do. I asked him what he's doing, he just said he likes to go out and play since staying home stuffs him up. I left it alone after that, but sometimes it haunts me. I've been leaving my brother alone ever since I discovered my PSI. I realize this couldn't be fair for Claus since he didn't get PSI and I keep leaving him. So after today's training, I was going to take a few days off to spend some time with him. But when I got home today, Claus wasn't there. Dad told me I could help him cook dinner while we wait for him, but I'm getting worried._

* * *

There was a frantic knock on the door. Flint went to answer it and was almost bombarded by a man in red as he yelped, "F-Flint! Oh Flint! It's me Thomas! I've got some bad news Flint! Real bad! In fact I'm not sure if-"

"Spit it out already!" The cowboy frowned when Thomas kept stalling.

"Your son Claus has been hospitalized!" The man finally spat out.

This made both Flint and Lucas's blood run cold. After Hinawa's death, the family had been trying hard to move on, and in such a short time after her death they hear another close family member is injured enough to be taken to the hospital. The hospital was something that was recently built in Tazmily, but it had helped saved many lives. The downside is they ask for a lot of money.

"How?! How did this happen?" Flint demanded angrily.

"I-I don't know the specifics! Y-you have to ask the Pigmasks, they're the ones who brought him in!" Thomas quickly said, not wanting to be the outlet of Flint's wrath.

Flint turned to his other son, "Come on Lucas, we need to see what happened to your brother."

Lucas didn't argue. The two ran out of the house faster than a bird could fly. They hurried into town where they saw a lot of Pigmasks in the area. Flint grabbed the nearest one.

"What happened to Claus!? What happened to my son!?"

"*Oink!* P-please calm down sir!" The cowardly Pigmask oinked in fear. "We have our best doctor looking into him now!"

"That isn't what I asked you. I asked WHY is Claus- my SON- hospitalized in the first place!?" The enraged father demanded.

"Sir." The peddler that had created the money and technology concept walked into the scene, he was eerily calm. "Your son is alive. But he had suffered the loss of a limb. Dr. Andonuts is doing his best to replace it now, but you have to calm down and don't interfere with the process."

Lucas gasped, "W-why? I don't understand. Why did my brother lose a limb? What happened? What did you make him do?"

Fassad drowned as he looked at the blond twin of Claus. "We didn't make him do anything. He was ambushed… by a dangerous enemy. Claus defended himself quite admirably, but at the cost of his right arm."

"He lost his ARM!? C-CLAUS!" Lucas cried.

"Let us in there, we _need_ to see Claus _now_." Flint said in a calm but serious tone.

"No, you can't go in there and interrupt the operation. This will take some serious concentration and if you interrupt it now you'll ruin your boy's arm and possibly brain for life! Just stay here and stay calm until they give us the okay to visit him." Fassad quickly said.

"What can you possibly do for an arm that isn't there anymore!?" Flint snapped.

"We're using technology to replace the arm he lost." Fassad answered. "It'll be free of charge, so don't worry about the DP. But please, you must remain calm."

"Technology?" Lucas hissed. "You can't replace something like an ARM with techology!"

"Maybe not, but it's better than nothing." Fassad replied calmly.

Flint and Lucas both frowned at this. Flint tips his head and said, "Fine. Lucas and I will be in the waiting room until they let us in."

"Thank you for being patient." Fassad said in relief. "We will do everything we can to make sure Claus has a working arm again."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the emergency room, Claus slowly regained consciousness again. _Argh… what happened to me? Ugh… I must've passed out… Where am I? Why can't I move?_

The young 11 year old boy looked around frantically in an unfamiliar place. But he did see a familiar face. "D-Dr. Andonuts? W-what happened?"

"Shhh, just stay still Claus." The doctor said to him gently as he pulled out a needle. "This will knock you out for a while. It'll make the process less painful."

Claus's eyes widen with terror, he was never good with doctors but he didn't like hearing that. "W-what do you mean? 'Less painful'? W-w-what are you going to do to me?"

"Just relax, you'll be fine." Dr. Andonuts said calmly as he approached the boy with the needle.

"N-no! No stay away from me! I-I'm not some animal you can transform!" Claus yelped, fearful of being transformed into a chimera.

"Don't worry Claus, we're not going to change you. We're helping you." Dr. Andonuts reassured. "Don't you trust us?"

"I-I- Ah!" Claus yelped when the short doctor managed to get the needle into the back of his neck. The young boy already started feeling drowsy as his eyes got heavy. "Ugh…"

"You'll be just fine, Claus." Dr. Andonuts promised.

 _For a long time I held a secret fear. I feared that if I had become too useless or too injured to help the Pigmasks, they would use me as an experiment. Possibly try to turn me into the first human chimera even. Their mutation with those animals scared me, a lot. I tried to act like it's no big deal, but it really scares me. I didn't want to end up like them. Sometimes I would have nightmares of waking up as a half human, half cyborg slave without a soul. I didn't want to end up like that. But all I can do is trust them… trust they wouldn't… do that… to me… already my consciousness is fading… Please… please don't… let me wake up… as a… soulless robot…_

* * *

Lucas woke up and rubbed his groggy eyes. He and his father had been in the waiting room all night. Seeing the clock on the wall, Lucas could tell it's about six in the morning. Seems he and Flint had fallen asleep while waiting. What had woken Lucas up?

 _I thought I heard Claus's voice. He's scared… he had a nightmare… I want to see him. He needs me to be there for him._ Lucas thought to himself in concern for his twin brother.

The young boy looked over at his father and decided to let him sleep. Lucas figured maybe it's okay if he saw Claus by himself. But Lucas frowned when he realized he didn't know which room Claus was in.

 _I think all those lessons with the Magypsies and Kumatora will pay off._ Lucas thought to himself as he closed his eyes and concentrated on using his PSI to find his brother.

It was faint, but Lucas could tell which aura was his twin's. Smiling, Lucas quickly but quietly walked down the hallway and followed the aura of his twin until he was in front of a door. Slowly opening it, hoping not to disturb the operation if it was still going on, Lucas dared to peek inside. It was dark, Claus was alone. If they were done with the operation why didn't they let him and his dad see his brother? Lucas frowned to himself as he realized they probably wanted to wait until Claus woke up before they let them see him.

Lucas slowly walked inside. Awake or asleep, the blond hair twin needed to make sure Claus was here and alive. When Lucas saw his brother's peaceful sleeping face, his unease and troubling thoughts all melted away. Lucas was relieved that he was breathing and seem to be at peace. That's when Lucas noticed something glimmering, whatever was giving off light was reflecting off of the moonlight outside the glass window.

The blond haired twin frowned when he looked at the other side of his brother and saw a metallic arm looking thing attached to where his brother's right arm should be. It looked solid and probably could be covered up with a long sleeve and gloves easily, but this sadden Lucas as he was reminded his brother's loss of his right arm and it'll never be the same again.

Leaning over to his brother, Lucas spoke up softly, "I'm sorry Claus. If I had been there for you when that person attacked, you wouldn't have lost your arm." Claus's right arm had been his writing arm too, as both him and Claus are right handed people.

Lucas touched Claus's robotic arm, the metal felt cool and smooth. "I should've been there to protect you."

Suddenly the blond haired boy saw a pair of hands grabbing his brother's shoulder. "Wah- hey!"

Someone just took Claus. The orange hair boy was still unconscious and unable to do anything about it. The strange person was wearing black and hard to see, but Lucas wasn't going to let this guy get away. "Give back my brother kidnapper!"

Lucas jumped at the guy and slammed into him with a tackle. The man grumbled as he hit the wall, but still had Claus over his shoulder. "Let him go!"

"Sorry kid, but I was paid to take this boy in." The voice sounded feminine… was this a woman? Woman or not, she's kidnapping Lucas's brother and he won't allow that.

"I'm not going to let you kidnap him!" Lucas hissed as he grabbed her arm, trying to pry her from Claus.

"You're making this really annoying kid!" The lady in black snapped.

Lucas concentrated as he remembered one of his PSI powers. "PK Flash!" His fingers light up brightly, blinding the woman in black. She hissed in pain from the bright flash of light as Lucas managed to get Claus off her.

Lucas gently put Claus on the ground as he stood between him and her. "I won't let you take my brother away!"

"What did you do to me!?" The woman yelled. "My eyes!" She suddenly threw a black knife at him.

Lucas yelp as the knife grazed his arm with a small cut. _This lady's fast!_

"You're lucky you messed up my eyes, otherwise that kunai would've went straight through your fragile chest." She hissed with venom.

Lucas gulped as she advanced towards him, but he wasn't going to back down. All those lessons with Kumatora wasn't going to go to waste. Lucas's grip on the wooden staff tighten as she advanced. "PSI Offense Up. PSI Defense Up."

Lucas felt the tingle go through his body, making him stronger. The other tingle made his muscles and skin feel stronger, like they could take hits much easier. The woman in black threw more of those kunai knives at him, this time Lucas was ready. Using his Offense Up boost to his advantage, he managed to swing the staff and knock over the knives that were heading towards him. The woman then threw star-like weapons at him.

"You may able to take my kunai brat, but let's see how well you can deal with shurikens!" She snapped.

Lucas yelped as he felt the shuriken hit his side, but it wasn't so bad thanks to Defense Up, it kept it from piercing through skin. "PK Shield alpha!" He yelled as a barrier began to surround him. The shurikens bounced off the shield.

"What!?" The lady growled before she charged at him with nunchucks that came out of nowhere.

Lucas yelped when she came swinging those metal things at him. The boy used his wooden staff to try and deflect some of them, but he was hit a few times, she was much faster than he was. Lucas pushed her back, she may be faster but he was stronger. The boy quickly hit her again with his wooden staff weapon, she hissed before backflipping away.

"Annoying brat. Fine, if you want to do this the hard way, then we'll do it the hard way. As a ninja I'm good with stealth, but I don't have a lot of stamina, so it's always good to have back up." The woman said before taking out a device and talked into it. "Bring it here now. It seems I'm facing more resistant than I would've liked."

Lucas frowned at that. The woman- who's apparently a ninja- snapped into the little device, "Yes I know! Don't worry, I already knocked everyone in the vicinity out, they shouldn't wake up until the sun rises." She pushed a button and the device beeped before she smirked at Lucas. "Well now kid, looks like you're about to become dino-chow. Should've just let me take the kid quietly."

Lucas glared but before he could answer he felt the world trembled for a split second. Then it rumbled again… and again… in fact it almost felt like footsteps to a giant. The ninja smirked, "I'll return to take my payment once you are out of the way, troublesome brat."

The ninja threw some smoke bombs and disappeared. Lucas blinked as he looked around, no sign of her. _She really is fast._

Then the 11 year old boy heard a loud roar just outside. "Oh no…" Lucas turned to his unconscious brother. The boy gently picked up Claus and put him back on the bed. "I'll be back Claus… I'll… I'll avenge Mom and keep you safe, don't worry… it's a promise."

Lucas hurried outside of the hospital. Apparently that ninja girl put everyone to sleep so they won't be waking up even during the fight. Lucas can only hope someone who's still awake will be able to see and come for help. _Because I don't think I'm ready to face a Drago all alone._

* * *

Outside, Lucas saw the big half machine, half Drago chimera glaring down on him. The blond haired 11 year old gulped nervously, but he knew he had to be strong, for Claus and his mother.

The Mecha Drago let out a loud roar before it jumped at Lucas, intending on crushing the boy. Lucas yelp and quickly jumped out the way, barely avoiding the stomp. The Mecha Drago roared again before coming down to bite the boy. Lucas yelped and quickly shoved in hands in front of him. "PK Flash!"

The bright flashing light caused the Mecha Drago to lose its balance and fall over to the side, missing Lucas. The boy sighed in relief, but the Mecha Drago was far from out. It stood back up and roared angrily as it came charging at Lucas again.

Lucas yelped as it swung its tail and smacked the small boy into a building. "Ugh!"

Mecha Drago wasn't going to let up, it charged again. "PK Shield!" Lucas quickly put up another shield as it stomped on him. The barrier helped protected him from most of the damage but it still hurts. Lucas groaned but face still full of determination.

"P-PK Love!" The boy shot out blue energy that exploded into hexagons right into the metallic dinosaur's face, causing it to roar in pain.

The Mecha Drago spun around and smacked Lucas's smaller body with its tail again despite being hit by PK Love. Lucas yelled in pain as his body was flung into another build. The boy could barely stay conscious, he was getting mentally and physically tired. When the robotic dinosaur recovered from the PK Love, it charged at Lucas with its maw opened wide, ready to bite down on his smaller body.

Lucas quickly lifted his hands, "PK Flash!" The bright flash caused it to become blind again and miss. Lucas quickly ran towards the Mecha Drago and began slamming his wooden staff into its leg, but it seemed to be doing little to no damage.

 _I forgot, Dragos have very tough hides!_ Lucas growled to himself.

The robotic dinosaur lifted its feet, trying to crush him. Lucas ran out of its way. _I'll have to rely on my PSI!_ "PK Love!" The boy shot out another blue energy hexagonal explosion right at the Mecha Drago, pushing the big dinosaur back. "PK Love!" He did it again.

The Mecha Drago roared loudly in pain as Lucas began panting. "P-PK… L-Love!" Shooting another attack, the Mecha Drago fell to the ground in pain.

Lucas fell to his hands and knees to the ground too, his energy all used up. The boy could hardly see straight. Unfortunately that Mecha Drago was tougher than he thought, it got back to its feet. Although it struggled, it was still coming towards him.

 _N-no… how could it take all those PK Love and STILL get back up? … I… I don't have the energy for another one… I can hardly stand… N-no, I have to be strong… I have to… protect Claus._

The weakened boy struggled to stand up. If there's one piece of good news, it's that the Mecha Drago looked like it could hardly walk. It was wobbling as it tried to approach Lucas, the metal parts of it were sparkling as if it's about to have a malfunction.

 _I… I should've saved some energy for Lifeup… my body hurts…_ Lucas weakly thought to himself.

The Mecha Drago slowly approached Lucas, who could only glare at it in defiance. The giant mecha dinosaur stopped and looked at the small boy before it suddenly laid on the ground and began to whimper. Lucas blinked and frowned at this sudden change in the behemoth. While watching the Mecha Drago, it shed a tear from its organic eye… it was crying.

"You're… hurting…" Lucas said sadly as realization began to settle in. The Mecha Drago never wanted to hurt anyone, least of all kill them. The poor thing was being controlled and it was hurting that it was being forced to do things it never wanted to do.

Lucas remembered this creature is what killed his mother… but could he really pin the all blame on it? The creature was clearly not in control of its action and shows deep remorse and regret for what it had done. Lucas could see in its tear shedding organic eyes, it wanted this to end one way or another. The boy began to slowly approach the weakened Mecha Drago.

" _Lucas…"_ Lucas stopped when he heard what sounded like his mother's voice, she spoke softly in his head.

Lucas fell to the ground again and began shedding tears of his own. His heart was torn, he had wanted this for a long time since the beast killed his mother, but could he really bring himself to do the deed? The Mecha Drago clearly wanted him to end it, it was suffering the longer it was alive, but how could he kill the poor creature? He didn't know what to do.

The Mecha Drago laid there, still crying. Lucas could only cry with it, unable to hurt it anymore. Footsteps were soon heard as the morning sun slowly began to rise into the dark sky, beginning to brighten it with its light.

"LUCAS!" Lucas heard his father's voice.

The crying boy felt strong and firm yet gentle hands cradle around him as people began to surround him and the Drago. Lucas wanted to say he avenged his mom, that he protected Claus from a potential kidnapper, that he had survived against the beast and won, but all he could do was cry in his father's arms.

"Lucas…" Flint didn't ask or demand an explanation, he was just happy Lucas was still alive. He let his son cry as the Pigmasks handled the Mecha Drago.

 _It was at that moment the morning sun had never been more welcoming to me._

* * *

 **The ninja was kinda random I'll admit... I wanted something to lead up to Lucas fighting the Mecha Drago at the end of the chapter and a friend of mine suggested a ninja. For those of you who had played or seen the game, yes this scene is just like the one where- *spoiler alert* Flint spared the Mecha Drago's life even though it was in vain. Lucas just takes Flint's place and it's happening in Tazmily rather than on the mountain. The chapter is called 'The Morning Sun' as a reference to it being the troubles stopped by the time the morning sun rises into the night sky, filling it with light of hope. Now if you have any questions or if you'd like to comment about this chapter, please feel free to do so. I'd like to know if this story is doing any good. I am DarkFoxKit and I look forward to hearing from you.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Mechanical Arm

**DarkFoxKit: Wow, didn't think I'll start using the ANs like this again after Key left so soon. But everyone, I'd like you to meet another co-writer of mine, he's a little shy but he's been a great help so far! Come on and introduce yourself to everyone.**

 **Donfyre: *nervously walks out* Um… hi everyone! I've been helping Fox here with the story a little, aaand… What else do I say?**

 **DarkFoxKit: You hadn't even said your name yet. ^^' This is Donfyre, he's been a great help! He also introduced me to Mother 3.**

 **Donfyre: Oh, yeah, names! I prefer to be called Fyre, and yep, I'se also the one who introduced Fox here to Mother 3! c: And now she's went and written this story for all of you to see 'cause she loved the story - especially those two brothers - so much. And I helped here and there.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Now then, we appreciate those who had taken time of reading and reviewing our work. We would like to hear more from you guys if given the chance, maybe Donfyre here will be a little less shy. :P**

 **Donfyre: Yeah, I'll be honest, I'm being a little shy right now. ^^' Buuut I'll probably warm up given a few… dozen… chapters… Yeah, I'm still not used to this yet.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Alright, so we'll go on with the chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: The Mechanical Arm**

Claus groaned as he began regaining consciousness. The boy slowly began opening his eyes. "Ugh… it felt like I was run over by a train…"

"Claus?" The ginger boy heard a familiar voice beside him. "Claus! You're awake!"

Claus turned and saw his twin brother Lucas, who looked like he was bandaged up after being in a scuffle. Claus frowned at this, but Lucas was smiling brightly at him, happy to see him awake.

"Lucas? What happened to you?" Claus asked his twin in concern.

"Oh this? This is nothing. I just… uh… got into a small training accident is all, nothing to worry about. The doctors said I'll be fine in a few days. It's _you_ I've been worried about." Lucas pointed out. He didn't feel the need to worry his brother about the ninja and the Mecha Drago.

"Oh, yeah, my arm." Claus said. He glanced over at his lower right arm, now a mechanical replacement of what used to be there. So they actually managed to replace his arm, both Lucas and Claus thought to themselves.

"W-what happened to it anyways?" Lucas asked in concern. "I was waiting for you yesterday to get back home and the next thing I hear is that you lose your arm!"

Claus shuddered as he remembered just how he lost it. "I was hoping it was just a wound… but instead it took my whole arm off…"

"What did?" Lucas asked quietly.

"Um…" Claus remembered that he wasn't supposed to tell Lucas about his secret job with Porky. "What do you know?"

Lucas was a little taken aback by the question. "W-what do _I_ know? I already told you that me and dad just suddenly heard yesterday that you lost your arm. We heard that you were attacked by a dangerous enemy."

"Yeah…" Claus said with a frown. "Someone was trying to kidnap me. They had a special sword and when I defended myself the sword must've gotten loose in their hands or something because it flew over at my arm before I could react. That's all I remember before waking up here."

Lucas wished he knew why these people were trying to kidnap him. He would've questioned Claus more about that had he not witnessed that ninja trying to steal him away that night. It still didn't make any sense. Why anyone would want to kidnap his brother? What could they want with Claus?

"Maybe I should stay with you, so I can protect you." Lucas suggested. "I have PSI and I've been training with it, so I can help protect you better in case this happens again."

Claus frowned as he looked over at Lucas, remembering that Carpainter had been looking for him for his PK Love earlier, they were bound to go after Lucas once they realize he can use it too. In fact it's a wonder why they didn't go after him first, but Claus guessed the Magypsies were good at keeping his PSI hidden.

"Maybe that would be a good idea…" Claus said as he frowned in concern. _Maybe I should tell him. He could join with Porky and we can help protect each other, he seem more than capable enough._

"Claus, you're awake!" Claus jumped when he heard another voice.

Flint just walked in the door with some drinks, apparently he left earlier to get something to drink and was shocked to see Claus was awake. The father gave a smile as he walked over to him and Lucas. "I'm happy to see you're awake again. Things had been hectic since we heard you were sent here."

"Sorry… I haven't meant to make you two worry." Claus apologized.

"It's not your fault you were attacked." Lucas said quietly. "But we're glad you're okay."

Claus looked at his robotic arm. "This arm… It feels weird."

"It's going to take some getting used to, but it's better than nothing." Flint said.

"I guess so…" Claus sighed. _I had wanted to spend the day with Lucas not have my arm chopped off and replaced with THIS! I better be upgraded to a Pigmask uniform soon so I can hide this ugly arm!_

Lucas hugged his brother, taking the other by surprise. "We were so worried for you, Claus. We're just glad you're okay despite the arm. Now that you're awake, maybe the doctor will let you come home with us!" he said with a cheerful smile.

As if on cue, Dr. Andonuts himself walked in. "I will see if he's ready or not. I'll need to examine him to make sure he's healthy enough to be discharged. I'll need you two go back in the waiting room as I must do this alone."

"Why can't we be here? If you're just going to examine him then you should have no problem with-" Flint started to argue before Claus spoke up.

"Dad, Lucas, it's okay. You guys just wait for me outside, this shouldn't take too long." The orange haired boy reassured them. Claus could tell whatever Dr. Andonuts wanted to say to him involved it being part of the Pigmasks, so he couldn't have his father and brother here.

"Okay Claus… if you're sure…" Lucas said after some hesitation.

"We'll be waiting for you, son." Flint said softly as he and Lucas left the room.

* * *

Dr. Andonuts sighed in relief before he turned to the ginger haired boy. "Now Claus, there are a few things you should know… that robotic arm has a secret mode that will activate with your PSI. It can transform into a cannon that allows you to shoot your PSI in a concentrated beam, making it far more dangerous than if you simply use one element."

Claus frowned at this as he looked at his robotic arm, he hadn't expected that. Then again the Pigmasks are a military army, anything they can use for their advantage in battle is always a priority.

"This thing can turn into a CANNON!?" Claus nearly shouted.

"P-please calm down and refrain from shouting!" Dr. Andonuts quickly said. "It's a special cannon and it will only react to your PSI."

"And how does it do that?" The boy asked, raising an eyebrow and feeling uneasy.

"In order to do this I had to do a bit of brain surgery on you and implant a computer chip so you'll be mentally connected with the cannon." Dr. Andonuts explained and Claus's eyes widen in horror.

"You WHAT!?" Claus immediately reached for his head, forgetting how hard his robotic hand is as he smashed it into his head. "Ow…"

"Please Claus, you must remain calm." Dr. Andonuts begged. "I know this is a big shock to you but this will give you a bit advantage in battle. Why don't you try switching to cannon mode now?"

Claus frowned at this. He hated that he was a guinea pig for the doctor's experiment. The young boy touched his robotic arm as if afraid it'll come alive and hurt him.

Noticing the young boy's hesitation, Dr. Andonuts sighed. "This is something that happens on the battlefield, believe it or not. When you signed up this is the kind of deal you get."

Claus bit his lip, he knew it would be dangerous but he didn't think he'd lose a limb and have it replaced with a deadly weapon so soon. The PSI was cool and all but he was cautious with it, and now he has a hand that can turn into a freaking _cannon_! He's not sure if he could handle such a thing.

"And you've got to be brave, this is reality now." Dr. Andonuts said softly. "So please… try to cooperate."

"I'll… I'll try." Claus put on his brave face, not wanting the doctor to see how terrified he was of this concept. "What do I have to do?"

"It's easy. It's all mental since it's linked to your brain. Think of it as another PSI. To activate cannon mode you just have to think of using PSI through that arm. You can change it back just as easily too." Dr. Andonuts said with a jolly smile.

Claus sighed but nodded as he concentrated on the robotic arm. It really was easy since the arm changed into a cannon almost instantly. Claus stared at the cannon that was now his arm.

"What does it use for ammo?" Claus couldn't help but feel uneasy with the thought of having to load his arm with actual cannon balls.

"As I've said before this cannon uses your PSI. It fires your PSI into a concentrated blast, so it determines on your mental energy on how much ammo it needs." Dr. Andonuts explained. "You can try testing it later when you're training."

Claus nodded, that would be a wise decision. He concentrated on changing it back to an arm and he was relieved when the cannon shifted back into an arm. "Thank you, Dr. Andonuts."

"Just try not to lose another limb if you can help it. But this should definitely help you in battle." The doctor said. "I'll let Fassad know about your awakening."

Claus nodded as he stared down at his metallic arm. Dr. Andonuts hesitated before he said, "And there's something else you should know…"

"Hmm? What is it?" The ginger haired boy asked, looking up at him.

"Last night there was an incident. Your father and brother requested we do not tell you this, but as a member of the Pigmask Army we feel we should inform you of what happened." The short doctor said with a frown.

Claus frowned at this. Why would his dad and Lucas not want to tell him what happened? Regardless, he waited and listen.

Dr. Andonuts took a deep breath before he said, "While you were still unconscious from the sedative there was an assassin ninja woman hired to kidnap you in the middle of the night. She had put everyone in the area in a deep sleep so nobody would interfere. Thankfully your brother had woken up and went to your room before she could've taken you away."

 _Lucas saved me from a kidnapper?_ Claus thought to himself in surprise, but then again his brother had been training too. _That must be why he was bandaged up when I woke up this morning._

"Unfortunately the assassin had a back up plan. Apparently whoever hired her had complete control over some of our most strongest chimeras, because she summoned the Mecha Drago that threaten to tear down the building just to get to you."

Claus's eyes widen in horror. The Mecha Drago was what killed his mother and chased him before.

"Your brother bravely fought against the beast. He showed a lot of potential with his PSI just like you. When it came down to it, he had to use his PK Love to defeat it. The boy managed to hold it out until the everyone woke up and found them just outside the hospital. Of course, we believe because of that fight, the enemy now knows about your brother having PK Love and will be a likely candidate target."

"What?" Claus narrowed his eyes. "But why didn't they go after him before?"

"The Magypsies kept his PSI hidden." Dr. Andonuts explained. "Just like the bracelet I made for you kept yours hidden. But it looks like they've found both of you out."

"Then Lucas can join the Pigmask Army like I did." Claus suggested. "He's become a capable fighter if he was able to defeat the assassin _and_ the Mecha Drago on his own. I'm sure he'll be a valuable asset and this way we won't have to worry about pulling those Needles and ending the world."

"Hmm…" Dr. Andonuts seem to hesitate there.

"What's wrong? Lucas just proved he's more than capable." Claus said.

The balding doctor sighed before he said, "You could try asking him, but we don't think he will want to join."

"Why wouldn't he?"

"Well… if you think you could convince him to join, then by all means go for it, but don't expect him to." Dr. Andonuts said. "You see… Lucas believes it's the Pigmask's fault that the Mecha Drago killed your mother."

"But you didn't make it do that." Claus argued.

"But we did make it. You can try to talk him into it, but unless he's willing to join, I suggest you refrain from letting him know you joined." Dr. Andonuts warned. "I'll let them in now."

* * *

The ginger haired boy sighed as Flint and Lucas came back in, both happy to see them. Claus couldn't help but look at Lucas's injury now that he knew where it came from.

"You okay Claus? What did the doctor say?" Lucas asked curiously.

"He said it'll take some time to get used to the metal arm but I should be fine." Claus quickly said. "But Lucas…" he twiddled his fingers as he tried to figure out how to bring up the subject. "You seem to have gotten pretty strong since the Magypsies and that Kumatora girl's been training you. Why don't you join with the Pigmask Army? I'm sure they could-"

"No." Lucas said suddenly.

"But Lucas, they-"

"They're the one who's been mutated those poor animals! They hurt that poor Drago and turned it into a monster." Lucas hissed bitterly as he thought about the fight with the Mecha Drago. "It never wanted that Claus, but it was forced."

Claus frowned and sighed, "But Lucas they mean well I'm sure. They're fighting to help the world."

"What? Help the world?" Lucas looked at Claus in confusion.

"W-well I heard that the world is in ruins and they're trying to fix it…"

"What? Who told you that?" Flint suddenly asked.

Claus knew he had better choose his words carefully. "I heard someone called King P who mentioned it. And I thought maybe Lucas could join and help them since he always liked helping people."

"I do Claus." Lucas said. "And if it's a chance to help the world then I'm all for it. But the Pigmasks can't be trusted. They're the one who changed the village, they introduced greed and mutated the animals. I'm sorry but I can't trust anyone like that."

"But Lucas they helped more than they harmed. Human greed can't really be stopped and it was bound to happen eventually I'm sure, but the technology and hospital gives us more of a fighting chance if we get hurt or sick. The animals are being mutated to help survive out there where there's no life." Claus argued.

Lucas was silent for a second. Flint didn't say a word, rather he was content with just watching the two boys. Finally, the blond haired twin said, "We were fine before the hospital and technology too. Everyone worked together to make natural medicine without wanting to be paid. The animals were friendly and even the ones that weren't were easy to handle. I would rather die than live in a world of mutated animals that would snap and kill someone I loved."

Claus couldn't believe what his brother just said. Lucas basically just told him he'd rather die than join the Pigmask Army. "Do you still blame them for killing Mom?" he asked quietly.

"They are responsible for it." Lucas said.

"But they're not the ones who made it do such a thing I'm sure." Claus said.

"Maybe not... but they did make it in the first place." Lucas replied quietly.

Claus sighed, he can see now why Dr. Andonuts knew Lucas wouldn't join, it's too bad, he would've liked it if his twin was by his side. "Okay… I understand."

"Claus, while I don't agree with the Pigmasks, I do have to give them one credit." Lucas said as he sat beside his brother. "They did pay for that arm so you wouldn't be half armless."

Flint gave a sigh before he said, "Regardless, I am just happy you're both alive and well."

"Yeah… me too." Claus said as he smiled at Lucas.

* * *

 _I couldn't tell Lucas that I wanted him to join because I was a part of the Pigmask Army. At first I didn't tell him because it was requested from Porky himself that I shouldn't. But now I don't want to tell him because I'm afraid he'll hate me for it and I couldn't live with it if my twin brother grew to hate me for siding with the guys who indirectly killed Mom. So I kept quiet about my PSI and my involvement with the army._

 _After I was admitted out of the hospital, Lucas and I spent a lot more time together. I always wore sleeves and gloves over my robotic arm so people wouldn't stare at it. I was thankful Fassad allowed me a few days off to recover from that battle with Carpainter and so I could spend more time with my family. Dad tended to the sheep with Boney's help as usual while Lucas and I would go into the woods to collect some ingredients. Our job here is to sell sheep and ingredients for the Inn, bakery or restaurants. We had to make a living off of something after all._

 _It felt nice being able to play with Lucas again like a normal kid and he didn't show off his PSI since he didn't want to make me jealous. I wish I could tell him about my own PSI, maybe we could spar together and see who's a better fighter and the other can improve more. I haven't tried that cannon arm yet since I've been at home and not at the base's training facility._

 _Of course, nothing last forever and before I knew it I had to go back to training. Lucas spent as much time with me as he could before Kumatora wanted him to go back to training too. She granted him a few day offs due to me being hospitalized, but now it was time for him to go again._

* * *

"Come on Lucas, we should go." Kumatora said after she arrived at the twin's house.

"Oh, okay Kumatora." Lucas turned back to Claus and smiled at him. "I guess I'll see you later."

Claus smiled back at him and said, "Yeah. It was fun having you around again."

"Oh Lucas, there's someone I want you to meet when we get there." Kumatora said as Lucas walked towards her.

"Hmm? Who?"

"Ionia said she found this man with a limp loitering around the Osohe Castle the other day. Apparently his name is Duster and he's a thief. They want us to meet him for some reason."

"Does he have PSI too?" Lucas asked curiously.

"No, he doesn't." Kumatora said as she and Lucas walked on out of earshot.

Claus curiously tilted his head at that, what would Magypsies want with a common thief? _Ah whatever, it's not any of my business anyway._

"Claus." Flint suddenly spoke up, almost scaring the living daylights out of his son.

"Y-yes Dad?"

"Are you going out too?" Flint asked, perhaps knowing that whenever Lucas leaves, Claus leaves shortly after, both usually coming home at the same time.

"Yeah… is that okay?" Claus asked nervously.

"It's okay with me. Just be sure to come home this time without losing another limb." Flint said.

This made Claus chuckle, "I'll try my best Dad."

The young 11 year old boy walked out of the door and sighed as he looked down at his gloved covered robotic arm.

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: Alright, so the chapter is mostly about Claus waking up and getting his robotic cannon arm. Not much going on yet, but it'll get better soon. So there are a few reviews we'd like to answer back to as we appreciate the people who take the time to tell us what they think.**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan: Thank you for saying it's interesting. I'm happy to hear the transitions are flowing smoothly as I was worried it might be clunky or going too fast. And yes, the role reversal thing with Lucas and Claus is pretty cool. And I did like the Morning Sun from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, so glad it reminded you of it!**

 **Donfyre: Nice to see you like those transitions! Like she said, Fox here was worried if they felt out of place. XP And interesting how you said that the opposites were awesome… they are awesome, because this entire story was almost gonna be a role reversal. :D**

 **DarkFoxKit: It was not! *pouts* Anyways…**

 **thekingdomheartsfan: I'm glad you're enjoying the story… Mother 4 better come out soon. Roxas's Story has its own fanbase, this is for the Mother/Earthbound fanbase.**

 **Donfyre: THEY DELAYED MOTHER 4 AGAIN! D: A-anyways… I know Fox and Key did really good on Roxas's story, so hopefully this story at least turns out to be good in the long run.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Alrighty… ah, an old friend of ours.**

 **ConstructCritical: I'm glad you're enjoying the story, but… it's too bad you didn't say anything more other than that. So… I hope you're not so sleepy next time. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: Hiiiiii Crit! Nice to see you're enjoying it, but I think you should get some sleep sometimes too. XP**

 **DarkFoxKit: Alright, now for this review…**

 **Soleil: You thought Lucas was going to take Claus's place and end up being killed by the Mecha Drago and then revived as the Masked Man? I'm surprised you thought that, but it's good to know the chapter made you fear for Lucas!**

 **Donfyre: … Okay, so maybe the story wasn't entirely going to be about role reversal. But it's nice to see you liked the elements that stayed the same too!  
**

 **DarkFoxKit: Alright, last but certainly not least…**

 **Connor the speling pro: It's so cool to have a fellow Earthbound author reading and reviewing this story! And I'm glad you're not put off by the random ninja I was worried people may not like that bit. ^^' And yeah, I knew Kumatora was everywhere in City of Progress, but I thought your excuse for it was pretty valid. Unfortunately that ninja isn't gonna make a return, well so far she hasn't anyway in our future chapters.**

 **You like that Fassad and Porky aren't the antagonists huh? I actually got the idea from another fanfiction called Protector. In fact, I'll admit, a lot of my inspiration came from that story, it's pretty good but hadn't been updated in a while sadly.**

 **The evil entity… I won't say if you're right or wrong, but I will say it wouldn't be the first time someone used Giygas as that. ;)**

 **Well I'm glad to know you don't see it as taking shots at religion as that is not my intention at all, it's just there are people out there who are really sensitive so… I wanted to make sure they know I don't mean any harm.**

 **Thank you for your review. You've brightened up my day actually when you left a review for this and Forgive My Hasty Brother story! I hope you're able to read more chapters in the future!**

 **Donfyre: Well, Fox here practically took everything I can respond to in this review. *pouts* But I will say that you leave really good reviews! Nice and lengthy, just how we like it. XP And you made Fox here happy, so that's always good!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Alrighty then! That's all the reviews we have so far, so now we hope you guys tell us what you think of this chapter. I am DarkFoxKit, this is Donfyre and we look forward to hearing from you!**


	5. Chapter 5: The Colony

**DarkFoxKit: Hi readers! I hope ya'll are having fun! Anyways, my friend Donfyre here has an announcement to make. *elbows Fyre* Go on, tell them.**

 **Donfyre: W-wha? Why are you making me tell them? It's sad news, at least for me! DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: Because it's your news. Come on, tell them, don't keep the readers in suspense.**

 **Donfyre: Oh fiiiine. *grumbles* I'm going to be on a month long vacation after this chapter's posted. So that means Fox here's gonna be doing AN's alone again for a while. Phooey too, I was getting used to doing this AN stuff. *pouts***

 **DarkFoxKit: This is only your second AN actually, but yeah I'll be alone for a while again. But hey, no worries, he'll be back before you know it. And since this updates once a week I'd say about… four chapters later you'll be back, right?**

 **Donfyre: … Eh, I guess you've got a point! Sooo until then, you guys will either be waiting or dreading the day I get back! :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Hey, don't sell yourself short! *pats his head* Anyways guys, go on and enjoy this chapter. I decided to make it long today since this is Fyre's last AN for a while, so you better enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: The Colony**

"Try again!" Fassad yelled.

Claus aimed his arm cannon at a test dummy. Focusing on his PSI, the cannon powered up before he fired a powerful PSI blast from it and the psychic energy missed the dummy by a mile. "I don't understand! Why do I keep missing!?"

Claus panted as he fell to his hand and knees. Using the PSI Cannon took a lot out of him and his aim was constantly way off target and he was losing his patience.

Fassad sighed as he crossed his arms as if thinking. "This is unusual indeed. You're usually good with your aim. Hmm… it seems that recoil from shooting the cannon takes the energy off course, or maybe your mind gets too distracted after the shot that makes you miss. It's also possible that the trauma of losing your arm is affecting you subconsciously too. We need a solution to this."

Ever since Claus had returned to the Pigmask base he had been having trouble getting back into the swing of things and he didn't understand what was wrong. He thought he got better at fighting, he could spar with the other new recruits with little trouble before, but now he couldn't even take down the ones that had joined _after_ him.

"I'll go talk to Dr. Andonuts about this, why don't you go rest for a bit?" Fassad suggested to the boy. "I'll give you some Luxury Bananas if you're hungry."

Claus couldn't help but give a small chuckle at this. Fassad was obsessed with bananas, especially Luxury Bananas, to have him offer one to you must mean he considers you a really good friend. "Thanks, but I'll see if I can try sparring with someone. I need to get back into the swing of things in case there's another attack."

"Don't wear yourself out." Fassad warned. "Besides I don't think you could take another humiliating defeat from another new recruit."

"Hey, I think I've gotten better." Claus frowned.

"If you say so, just try to be careful."

* * *

 _I felt like everyone's confidence in me is starting to wear thin. They're looking at me like the new kid again, like the kid who's just in way over his head. I hated those looks, it made me feel useless and pathetic. I've never understood why even the new recruits who joined after me gets a uniform, sure I don't think wearing a pig suit is all that cool, but at least I can hide my face from the world and feel like I actually belong here. I had first assumed it was because they didn't have suits in my size, but I've seen those shorter than me- shorter, not younger- that can wear those, so why couldn't I?_

 _I tried to spar with another low ranking Pigmask. I always avoid sparing anyone who is Captain rank and above since I knew I didn't stand a chance against them yet if I'm getting my butt kicked by the lowest ranks._

* * *

"PK Freeze!" Claus shot out freezing cold ice at the Pigmask he was sparring with.

The Pigmask oinked as he was hit and shivered from the cold. Claus ran forward with his new metal rod since he lost his wooden staff to Carpainter. The ginger haired boy planned to bash the Pigmask, but he recovered from the PK Freeze faster than he had anticipated and bum rushed him into the stomach forcing him back into the wall.

"Ugh…" Claus stood up and tried to attack again. "PK Thunder!" he shot out electricity at the Pigmask, who oinked frantically but the electric shock missed. Frowning, Claus tried to run up and bash him.

The Pigmask shot his laser gun at Claus and hit the boy, who hissed and fell on his back from it. "Ugh…"

"Come on, enough is enough, this is getting old and boring." The Pigmask said in annoyance.

"N-no… no… I can keep going…" Claus said tiredly as he struggled to stand up.

"Look, you're resilient I'll give you that, but at this point you'd only make a good punching bag." The Pigmask said. "I know you have PSI and all but maybe Commander Fassad should reconsider having a kid as a part of this army."

Claus glared at this, but the Pigmask sighed, "I'm sorry kid, but I'm at the bottom of my class and even to me you're too easy. You should think about going back home. Now I get why they never gave you a uniform... they knew you'd be a mistake."

The boy didn't say anything as the Pigmask left him alone in the training room. Those last words stung.

 _Was it true? Was I really just a weak link? Just a mistake? But I_ was _getting better until I lost my arm. Is that why I've been doing worse? Had the injury taken away my ability to fight?_

Claus was lying on his cot in his room as he contemplated on whether or not he should stay anymore. He remembered what the Colonel had said to him before, that he should never give up, but at this rate he felt like maybe he's been crippled for life and there's nothing to do _but_ to give up. Sitting up from his cot, Claus looked at himself in the small mirror.

The boy studied his reflection; he looked just like an ordinary boy. He wore his usual teal and yellow striped shirt, his eyes were emerald green, his hair the usual orange, in fact the only thing unusual about him would be the robotic arm if the sleeve and glove hadn't been covering it up.

"Look at me… I'm pathetic. I lose an arm and Lucas beats up an assassin and a Mecha Drago. Lucas had always been better than me and I was hoping that I was catching up… only to fall back down." Claus growled to himself before an idea struck him. "I don't need to wait for my uniform, not when I can just wear one."

Claus didn't want anyone to stare and judge him again, he wanted to hide his face behind the mask like everyone else in this building who isn't Fassad. The boy left his room to go search for a Pigmask suit around his size.

* * *

 _I went searching for a uniform that could fit me, but most of all I wanted the mask. I would not let anyone know it's me anymore. I searched in different rooms, but I could only search them if they were empty. I never went up in the base because those were for higher ranks and I didn't feel comfortable facing those in higher ranks in their territory. It'd be like a mouse going up to a tiger's room. Especially with all my latest blunders._

 _Still, I could not find any uniforms that were my size. The shorter ones have moved up in ranks so they no longer wore the pink uniforms. So basically I was stuck unless I wanted to sneak upstairs and steal one of the shorter captain's uniform. What kind of situation would that put me in? I don't think I'm cut out to be Captain yet, especially not with my terrible performance lately. But still…_

* * *

While Claus was debating with himself whether or not he should try to take a Captain's uniform, two Pigmasks were passing him by and talking with each other, presumingly not noticing him.

"Did you hear? Word on the wind says Fassad is thinking of upgrading the kid. He's been discussing matters with Dr. Andonuts."

"Oh really? Is it because the kid's gotten worse?"

"Probably, he's been really out of it lately. So he's hoping the upgrade will help."

"Oooh, I wonder if that means they'll make him into the first human chimera? If so with what?"

"It might be mechanical, you know, to go with his new arm?"

"Wow, I wonder what that would be like."

Claus froze up at hearing those words, there was no doubt in his mind that they were talking about him as he was the only kid in this army. _Fassad's planning on turning me into a chimera!?_

Fear got a tight grip on the young boy's heart. Claus figured if he kept doing terrible the worst they would do is fire him, but apparently that is not the case. Obviously they couldn't afford to let a PK Love user go, so instead of letting him go they're planning to 'upgrade' him into chimera status.

 _Maybe Lucas was right… joining the Pigmask Army probably was a mistake…_ Claus looked down at his hands, one of flesh and the other covered with a glove. _I don't want to become a chimera… I have to hide my identity from now on._

"Claus!" The boy jumped and almost accidentally activated his arm cannon. He heard Fassad calling for him. "Claus! Where are you boy? I need you to come see Dr. Andonuts!"

Panicked, Claus quickly hid in a room while Fassad walked down the hallway looking for him. "Claus! Dr. Andonuts has something for you!"

Claus stayed hidden until he heard Fassad turning the corner. As soon as he did, Claus looked at the elevator that lead to the upper floor. _Screw the consequences of wearing a higher rank uniform, it's better than being turned into a chimera!_

Claus hurried into the elevator and pushed the up button to get to the next floor and away from Fassad and Dr. Andonuts. As soon as the elevator opened, the 11 year old hurried out of there before looking around. The place looked a lot… cleaner and a bit more… luxurious, if that's the right word, than the lower floor. The boy figured it'd make sense that higher ranks get better hallways and rooms.

Claus heard footsteps and he quickly hurried in the opposite direction. _Okay, let's see, which room would one of the shorter Pigmask Captain's be in?_

Looking around, Claus had to check each room. Thankfully it seemed most of them were either out or asleep so they didn't notice when their door was opened. The boy soon found a room that was filled with Pigmask uniforms. Claus's eyes twinkled at this. _Jackpot!_

The boy hurried inside as he checked each uniform, trying to find the smallest one and see if it'll fit him. Unfortunately it seems the only uniform that could actually fit him was a white one with a cloak. _What!? I-I can't wear this, it's a Colonel uniform! I'm already pushing it with the Captain one!_

Claus was about to toss it aside and find another uniform but he heard someone walking towards the door behind him and some voices.

"Alright, we'll get you your uniform now."

Panicking, Claus quickly put on the white uniform and the mask as quickly as possible. As soon as he did, the door opened and a Pigmask Captain took notice of him. "O-oh! Colonel sir, I didn't know you'd be in here!"

The Pigmask Captain quickly saluted and the person beside him saluted too. Claus didn't recognize this person and assumed it's another new recruit. Claus quickly regain his composure, "U-um… at ease soldiers. I… I was doing some… inspection for bugs. … Carry on."

Claus quickly left the room and hurried out. He was glad he managed to find a uniform, but now everyone's going to think he's a high ranking Pigmask Colonel. _Don't panic Claus, just wait until they're gone and find a pink uniform that comes closest to fitting you._

Claus took a deep breath to calm down, though it was a little hard since the mask only had a single hole to breathe out of it. _How do these guys eat with this thing?_

* * *

"Colonel!" Claus jumped when someone called and came up to him. "What are you doing here sir? Master Porky had just sent Squad A and B to go help colonize another continent of the planet!"

It was a Major rank as the person was wearing a green uniform and mask. Claus gulped, he knew that high ranks are sent out to the planet to help colonize or set up the environment, but he had never left the island before, this was the situation he had been afraid of. "Um… M-Major, I was just… on my way out to the ship. B-but I need to see someone first."

"Colonel I mean no disrespect sir, but we need to get going now." The Pigmask Major frowned.

"I know, just give me a minute!" Claus said, trying not to scream.

Just as the boy was about to run down the hallway to get the uniform off, Fassad himself came up the elevator, freezing the boy in place.

"Colonel! Major! Have you seen the boy Claus anywhere?" Fassad demanded both of them.

"No sir, we haven't." The Major said.

"N-no… uh… sir." Claus quickly said, trying not to sweat but he swore that his mask was being covered in it.

Fassad looked at Claus for a second or two, making Claus even more nervous. Could he sense the PSI within Claus? The boy tried not to fidget too much and was doing his best to suppress his PSI as much as he could since he wasn't wearing the bracelet that suppresses it. Finally, Fassad sighed and said, "If you two find the boy be sure to bring him back here."

"Yes sir!" The Major saluted.

"R-right… sir!" Claus saluted too before Fassad went back into the elevator, going up to Claus's surprised. The boy wondered if Fassad was going to see Porky.

"Colonel sir, we should go now." The Major said.

Claus frowned, he couldn't go and he knew it, but if he stayed he'd risk being turned into a chimera. Claus nodded and said, "Very well, let's go."

"Great sir! As you know we're congregating outside where the pork-artillery and machinery is located."

Claus blinked in confusion at this. It's a good thing the Pigmask Major couldn't see it. "I, uh… seem to have forgotten where the place is. Could you please remind me where we're going again?"

"You forgot, sir?" The Pigmask asked. He scratched his head at this. "Well… I suppose everyone forgets sometimes. It's at the back of the building, due west of the training grounds."

"Oh, r-right! Of course, I remember now." Claus quickly said. He thought he sometimes saw some of the higher ranking Pigmasks assembling in the area not too far from where Fassad always had him train. He would sometimes see them ride off in the large advanced flying ships of theirs, but Claus tried not to pay too much attention to them.

"I-if you don't mind me accompanying you, sir." the Pigmask Major asked somewhat nervously, walking behind Claus as he made his way to the elevator. Claus just nodded his head, not really wanting to talk anymore. He was already nervous enough with the situation he was suddenly in, he didn't need to show it by stuttering all the time.

Claus made his way down and towards the area where the Pigmask told him. He never really thought he would ever be stepping into this area, but here he was now, ready to see what the world was really like outside of the island. _I just hope I don't screw this up._

He saw two large groups of Pigmasks, most of them pink, standing in front of two large ships. There was already a Pigmask Colonel in their white uniforms standing in front of each group, rallying orders to their troops. When the two groups saw Claus and the Pigmask Major, they began talking amongst each other.

"That Colonel… why is he here?" The Pigmask Colonel asked, and his voice made Claus realize this was the same Colonel who gave him that advice before.

"Weren't there only two Colonels assigned for this mission?"

Claus instantly got nervous, he wasn't sure what to say in this situation.

"Sir, there are already two Colonels present. Why were are you also coming along in this mission?" The Pigmask Major asked Claus directly.

"O-oh, well…" Claus stammered, trying to come up with a quick excuse. "I was… um, I'm just… volunteering! Y-yeah, I just wanted to volunteer to come along and give all the help you'll need. A-after all you can't have too much help with rebuilding this desolate world, r-right?"

"Is that it?" The Pigmask Major asked a little suspiciously. He stayed silent for a few moments, but eventually said with enthusiasm, "That's great! As you said, we can never have too many Pigmask Colonels helping us."

Claus gave a silent sigh of relief in his mask, glad nobody could see his face. His heart was pounding against his chest and he tried to calm it down, hoping they approved of the extra help.

The Pigmask Major went to inform the two Colonels about this. They seemed skeptical, but allowed Claus to come along, letting the boy in disguise calm down a little. At least he managed to sneak into the mission, hopefully nothing too hard would happen along the way. They boarded the airship and took off.

* * *

 _I couldn't help but marvel at the sky. I looked out the window and watched as we flew over the Nowhere Islands and through the vast ocean. I had never known the world outside of my home so I was eager to see what was out there. But as we passed by other islands I could see that Porky and Fassad were right, there's nothing much out here, nothing but a bunch of dead rocks with no life whatsoever. The other islands were as gray as death itself and it was rather sad to look at._

 _I kept watching as the scenery never changed. Nothing but open water and dead islands. It was getting boring, but there wasn't much else I could do that wouldn't make me look suspicious. I'm sure I already look suspicious for looking out the window for so long. But I refuse to let Fassad and Dr. Andonuts turn me into a chimera, so if I have to impersonate a Colonel to avoid being turned into a chimera then I will._

 _It was when we soon came to a large mass of land did it get interesting. I didn't see anymore ocean water out here, it just looked like one big massive land. I've never seen an island so big before. The place looked as gray and dead as the other islands though, and it occurred to me we were landing here, because the ship started to go down._

* * *

Claus turned back to look at the other Pigmasks, it seemed they've been talking amongst themselves. But when they felt the airship landing they immediately got into position, awaiting their orders.

"Hey you, you're the volunteer right?" One of the other Colonels asked Claus and he could tell this was the one who helped him before by the sound of his voice.

"Um, y-yeah, why?" Claus asked, still slightly nervous, hoping the Colonel didn't recognize his voice.

"Okay, maybe you can help me divide and conquer here. You could lead a section of my squad to help with colonizing this area."

"W-wait, what are we doing here?" Claus quickly asked just as the Colonel was about to walk away.

The Pigmask Colonel looked surprised but also slightly annoyed. "You've been promoted to Colonel and don't even know yet what the purpose of our visits to the continents are? We're supposed to colonize as much of the land as possible and repopulate and resupply the area with a lush environment again." he explained. "Anyways, like I said, I'll command one group, you can take and lead a section I'll leave to you."

Claus was unsure how he should go about doing this, but he just nodded his head and said. "Y-yes, okay! U-uh sir!"

The other Colonel seemed unsure of Claus and his hesitance, but he just shrugged and went off to do his own duties. Claus frowned as he looked at the section of Pigmask army he was left with to lead.

 _Great, leave an inexperienced 11 year old to lead an army to colonize this place. I'm so chimera bait._ Claus nervously thought to himself.

The Pigmasks all stood in place, patiently awaiting his command. Claus felt like his heart would jump out of his chest at any moment. _Oh great, now what do I do? I barely know what a colony even is! … Well, as Lucas once told me, sometimes when you don't know what to do it's better to watch and learn._

"You guys uh… go help with building the colony's borders!" Claus quickly said to them.

"Sir, yes sir!" They all said without hesitation before going over to help build up a small city of technology.

With all of them busy, Claus watched closely to what they're doing. The boy picked up on how to act nice to people by watching Lucas, so surely he could learn what to do by watching the other Colonels.

For hours, the boy kept watching how the Colonels took charge of their squad, telling them where to put a certain piece of technology, or where to build a house or a factory.

* * *

 _I was careful not to miss a single detail. I soon learned that the colony was going to have some volunteered Pigmask families that are to live in this city and try to make this continent livable. First by testing what vegetation could survive out here, then have them grow more of it around until they can release animals or chimeras to populate the land. The technology around the city will keep the people living here alive and fed until they can grow the needed vegetation to get life on this place._

 _It wasn't long until I began helping out. I couldn't use my PSI to make the work easier since it would reveal my identity, so it was all by hand… well by hand and robot hand but you get the point. The other Colonels seemed surprised at my direct involvement instead of just commanding and letting the lower ranks handle it. I was surprised myself when the Colonels began following my example and started getting directly involved too. Heh, what do you know? An 11 year old boy can influence adults._

 _When I started to get my bearings on this colonizing mission it was a lot easier to go from there. Thanks to those years of helping and watching Lighter and Fuel fix up boarders and houses I had some idea on what to do with building these things._

 _It took all day and night, by dawn we finished the colony's little city. The technology we have made building this so much faster than it would with just our bare hands and tools. Of course there is a problem and I've been trying to ignore it for the longest time; Dad and Lucas will be worried sick about me since I didn't come home last night._

* * *

"Alright, the colony city is complete!" One of the Colonels announced proudly.

Everyone cheered loudly before the other Colonel, the one who helped Claus before, said, "Okay, so now Pigmask families will live here. Go on in if you're living here."

Claus watched as about half the squad were going into the city, but some of them got bumped or confused or accidentally got pushed into the city. "Whoa, whoa, okay everyone stop!"

Everyone did stop and looked at him. Claus knew he had to be confident here, after all he is a Colonel even if he's impersonating one. "Everyone's being too chaotic. We need to split them up. Those who are living in the colony split from the group."

The Pigmasks hesitated for a few seconds and Claus began frowning uncomfortably from in his mask and wondered if he should've kept his mouth shut, but to his relief they soon began dividing. This made it easier as Claus gained some confidence.

"Okay, good. Now the group that has families, I want you to split from those who will be living by themselves." Claus ordered.

The ones with the families moved to their own group, there were a lot of them. Claus nodded after they finished moving. "Okay, those who will be living by themselves can go and get settled in. Pick houses that you can live in comfortably but leave the bigger ones for the families."

"Yes sir!" The people who are in the singles group all moved into the city and after they did, Claus turned to the bigger group with families.

Claus's heart felt a little sad when he saw those shorter ones in the Pigmask uniforms as realization came to him. These little ones weren't shorter, they were kids like he is, they just wore different colored uniforms to represent their parents' ranks. Claus silently wondered if there was a kid who wore the uniform he's wearing now, it'd be weird that a kid was wearing a Colonel's uniform. Maybe someone this short really is a Colonel.

"Alright, those with families may move in and pick the houses that you believe can shelter you comfortably." Claus said as they all saluted.

The 11 year old watched as the families all walked into the city and he couldn't help but give a smile as the children were eagerly picking what house they want to live in.

"Hey Colonel, not bad." Claus turned to one of the other Colonels. "I'll admit; I had my doubts about you when you seemed so clueless but you did a really decent job. I can see now why they promoted you."

"Uh… t-thank you… s-sir." Claus almost wished he could tell them they didn't promote him, but he wasn't going to risk being discovered now.

"Hey." A Pigmask Major suddenly said running out of the airship. "Fassad just radioed us. There's a big problem!"

"What's wrong Major?"

"The boy, the one who can use PSI, he's missing from the base." The Major quickly stated.

This got the other two Colonel's attention and Claus inwardly gulped nervously, he figured it was only a matter of time before they discovered he was missing.

"Then we better get back to base and search the island, the boy couldn't have gone far." One of the Colonels said.

 _If only they knew._ Claus nervously thought to himself.

"COLONELS!" A Pigmask Captain suddenly shouted. "We're under attack! The traitors are attacking the colony!"

"As if we didn't have enough troubles! We'll have to stop the raid before we can find that boy!" The Colonel who helped Claus before said to the Pigmask Major.

"Affirmative sir! I'll let Commander Fassad know right away!" The Major said as he hurried back into the airship.

Claus didn't know whether to be relieved or angry that the traitors chose now to attack the colony they had literally just finished making.

"Troops! We need to defend the colony!" The other Colonel shouted. "Luckily we've built in turrets to help defend the city but we'll have to stand our ground."

"Sir yes sir!"

Claus looked at the traitors that were flying. "How are they flying?"

"They stole some of Dr. Andonut's prototype jetpack blueprints and made their own. They may be faulty but they have the advantage in the air." A Pigmask Captain explained.

Claus watched as the enemy began shooting at them with guns from the air, he yelped and managed to avoid being shot. _How are we supposed to fight them like this?_

* * *

The boy saw the other Pigmasks were trying to shoot them down with their own guns but Claus himself didn't have a weapon. He didn't steal any guns, just the uniform and even if he had his metal rod he couldn't possibly use it to fight the enemy that were airborne unless he threw it. All Claus could do was try to keep from being hit by a laser gun.

Claus looked down at his hands, he actually did have the means to fight them with his PSI and his cannon arm, but that would mean giving up his identity. Claus could feel and see his hands shaking as he heard people screaming in pain from the battle, and more likely than not it's his side that's losing out there.

 _I had a choice to make, both of them difficult. I could not fight back and let a lot of people most likely die and the colony destroyed, on the other hand I could fight back and have a better chance at saving lives and the colony and get turned into a chimera._ Claus shut his eyes and gritted his teeth from within the mask as he curled both his flesh and robotic hand in a tight fist, still shaking. _Oh Lucas I wish you were here, maybe if you were this wouldn't be so bad._

Claus heard one of the Colonel's voices screaming. This brought him out of his trance as he looked back to the battlefield and saw the Colonel who had helped him before was shot down by the enemy. He laid on the ground, not moving, while the other Colonel was struggling to keep everything together. This angered the boy and made his blood boil, he had worked all day and night with these people and he shouldn't let his fear get in the way of helping them, it was his duty from the moment he signed up for the Pigmask Army.

 _I didn't sign up to be a coward. Colonel or not, I'm still a part of this army and I will fight for this world, my family and my friends._ Claus thought to himself in determination, crushing his fear of turning into a chimera- he'll just have to worry about it when he crosses that bridge.

Claus saw the enemies in the sky were about to strike at the Colonel again and he immediately switched his robotic hand into cannon mode and he aimed at the sky. "HEY! LEAVE THE COLONEL ALONE!" he shouted.

This brought the enemy's and other Pigmask's attention to him and Claus fired his cannon, shooting out a powerful PSI blast right at the group in the sky. By some miracle he managed to hit one of them and it caused an explosion to get others caught in it and in smoke.

The Pigmasks were murmuring among each other when they saw the shortest 'Colonel' having a cannon arm. Claus ignored them as he ran into the middle of the battlefield and shot out his cannon PSI blast again. The enemies in the sky all scattered.

"Hey! This isn't the time for gawking! We have a colony to defend!" Claus shouted at the Pigmasks. "Get your long range weapons, lock on to them if you can, and fire at them before they can regroup and attack!"

The Pigmasks all oinked as they saluted. They knew this wasn't the time for hesitation and speculations. Claus was relieved they listened to him even though most of them probably figured out who he really was.

The enemy flew down to attack. Claus looked up and realized that flying enemies have a big weakness to lightning when one of the Pigmask threw a Thunder Bomb at one of them and they came crashing down. The boy smirked at this as he now had the advantage.

"PK Thunder!" Claus shot out electricity from his hand and strike down three more enemies. _We're beating them!_ _Alright, just gotta keep it up a little longer…!_

The boy was hit by a rather large laser, the force caused him to get sent back a few feet. "Gah!" He groaned in pain.

Looking above himself, he could see he was being circled by more of those traitors, but they were holding big guns aimed for him. Claus's eyes widen as he quickly got to his feet and began running. "PK Thunder!"

The boy shot out lightning in hopes to bring them down before they could do the same to him. The other Pigmasks were busy with their own battles and couldn't help him. Claus had to keep running and trying to dodge more of those big laser guns while trying to shoot them with his own PSI cannon blast or PK Thunder. It didn't take long before Claus began to exhaust himself.

The boy looked back at the city colony and an idea struck him. They had metal he could use to amplify his electricity, all he has to do it guide it and make sure it only hits the sky. Claus hurried back towards the colony city, using his PSI cannon blast to try and slow down the ones chasing him.

"What are you doing?" One of the Pigmasks asked him when they saw him putting a hand on the metallic building.

"Just trust me on this soldier." Claus said before he concentrated. "Pigmasks! Gather around the center of the colony, now!"

The Pigmasks wasn't sure if doing that was such a good idea, that would mean stop fighting and run into the place the enemy wants to raid or destroy. But the Colonel who helped him before trusted him. "You heard the Colonel! Gather in the city now!"

That got all the Pigmasks to run into the colony city. Claus looked up at the sky and saw all the enemies gathering just above them. The boy could practically hear them snickering how he had just made it easier for them, but he smirked as it was the contrary. "PK THUNDER!"

Claus let loose as much lightning as he could into that PK Thunder. The electricity squirmed through the metal and wires of the technology, gathering more and more power, until finally the boy guided the powerful electricity and let it loose at the very tip of the tallest building in the city and it shot out a massive lightning that zapped all the enemies. Claus smiled as he heard the Pigmasks around him cheering.

However, Claus did not take in account of the recoil. His metallic cannon arm attracted some of the electricity and it came and struck him down. Claus yelled in pain as his body was suddenly shocked and the Pigmasks all yelped. The lightning struck down all the enemies into the area, allowing the Pigmasks to arrest them.

Claus fell on his knees after the electricity stopped shocking him, his head dangled as the mask fell off, revealing his face. The boy felt numb and was only vaguely aware of the voices surrounding him in concern before he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Radio Fassad, tell him we found the boy, and hurry!"

"Yes sir!"

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: Well now, looks like Claus here has been a naughty boy. Disguising himself as a Colonel and then working with a colony. I wonder what's going to happen once he wakes up back in the base? :P**

 **Donfyre: Yep! Who knooows what might happen? Anything could happen to poor Claus here! :3**

 **DarkFoxKit: But we won't spoil anything so now we'll just move on to the reviews!**

 **Connor the speling pro: Yup, Claus gets the nice, shiny arm cannon! And as for the chip in his head… yeah that WOULD be call for concern. But I wouldn't worry too much about Claus right now.**

 **And yeah, Lucas and Claus have different opinions on the Pigmasks and different ideals, but at least they still care and love each other, though Claus is too scared to tell Lucas the truth.**

 **I certainly hope this chapter picked up a lot. It's a lot of explaining but also fairly well with the action sequence.**

 **Donfyre: Hiya, it's you again! Anyways, Fox here usually responds to most of the things already said in these reviews, but I like seeing the kinds of predictions and hopes being thought from reading the story. And who knows what might happen? :3 I'll do the next review, which iiiis…**

 **Phoesong: S-sorry! I can get shy sometimes! … Oh, you were teasing? ^^;**

 **Conflict's going to be a big thing as you can see, and you probably already saw that from the title with the whole Rebuild or Reborn question. And it's nice that you noticed it, we really wanted to accentuate it. c:**

 **Oh, right, grammar stuffs. Even with two people reading and working on the same thing, sometimes stuffs like that slip by even if we didn't do it intentionally. ^^; Thanks for pointing it out!**

 **DarkFoxKit: And thank you for welcoming us to the Earthbound community! It's a pleasure to have friendly faces around here! Now then, for the next review…**

 **Soleil: Ah, you mean the scenario where Lucas gets turned into the Masked Man instead of Claus? That's quite understandable, especially if I had given this story the original title that was once called 'Role Reversal'. ^^' And I'm flattered you enjoyed the fanfiction so much you didn't hear your mother calling you. but I hope I don't induce bad habits.**

 **Donfyre: Still glad I gave you that idea to call the story Role Reversal. And, I'll be honest, tiny bit wished it was still called that. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: It can't really be called that since it's not technically supposed to be a 'role reversal' story. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: Oh shush, I still like it! *pouts* But anyways, it is nice to hear that you liked the fanfiction so much that we may have possibly induced bad habits in you! :D Anyways, final review we have iiiiis…**

 **Calm: Had a sigh of relief there, huh? XP**

 **DarkFoxKit: :3 Yeeeah, thank goodness Claus didn't become the Masked Man. I wonder what that could mean in future chapters? :3 Alright Fyre, have anything else you wanna add before you leave?**

 **Donfyre: Me? Uh… Gimme a sec. *wheels in a cannon and launches myself at the camera, glomping it* GOODBYEEEE!**

 **DarkFoxKit: O_O … Wow, talk about a grand exit. Goodbye Donfyre! I hope to see you again soon! Oh and readers, please leave a review on what you thought about this chapter. I am DarkFoxKit, this is Donfyre and we look forward to hearing from you! *grabs Fyre off the camera before shutting it off***


	6. Chapter 6: A Sign for Things to Come

**Hey readers, it's just me again! Oh and this is a Lucas chapter this time, we had fun with Claus but it's his brother's turn now. This chapter's a lot shorter than the last one, mostly because I wasn't sure what to do for this chapter other than a few more foreshadowing later and to give Duster some screen time. I'll go ahead and answer reviews up here again.**

 **Connor the Speling Pro : Well poor Claus does have a knack for getting into trouble. ^^' And yeah, I'd be terrified too if I thought I would be turned into a chimera. Never know what Fassad could be thinking, huh? And yes, it would be nice to have an obedient PSI user.**

 **Lucas probably would have a nervous breakdown, but after hanging out with Kumatora for almost a year I'd like to think he'd be tougher than that at this point in time. Claus feels Lucas is the better twin because of his kindness and will to help others, while Lucas feels Claus is the better twin because of his fast thinking and outgoing nature.**

 **Well for the most part, this story shows more action and things going on with the characters rather than idea-based discussion. After all this is more of a 'show don't just tell' kind of story. :3**

 **Calm : Aww, thanks for the compliment. Always nice to see you reading and reviewing all the stories I've had in my history of writing fanfiction. Still, I would like to hear what you thought of the chapter too.**

 **Blazennight283 : Heh, well hello there best friend~ :3 Well I grew up with Pokemon so of course I like it, however I just recently became a Mother/Earthbound fan a few months ago, starting somewhere in April I believe. I saw the Earthbound virtual console was available in Nintendo E-Shop so I decided to try it out since I heard the game received high praises and it's an RPG so why not? And I've been hooked to the series ever since. I asked a friend of mine online to hook me up with an English translation patch for Mother 3 on my birthday, which was May 1st. It's become my absolute favorite of the series story-wise.**

 **Alright, I believe that is all the reviews I had so far... sadly only Connor really said anything about the chapter itself. Well I hope to hear more about the story soon.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: A Sign for Things to Come**

Meanwhile, back in Tazmily, Lucas sat up from his bed. The blond haired boy frowned when he saw the empty bed next to him. _Claus never came home last night… what happened to him?_

 _Fassad had came to our house earlier and asked if Claus was here. When we told him he wasn't that's when Dad and I found out he was missing. Did someone kidnap him while I was in training? I knew I should've kept a close eye on him, but I thought he'd stay with Dad. Dad and I tried looking for him around the village but he was nowhere to be seen. Eventually it got so late that Dad and I decided to turn in for the night and continue our search in the morning._

* * *

Lucas sighed as he laid his head back down on his pillow. He didn't know what woke him up as it was too early, the sun hasn't risen yet and the chickens were still asleep, but now he was even more worried for his brother. Last time Claus came home late he was hospitalized with his right arm cut off. The thought sent shivers down Lucas's spine and he wondered if Claus was okay.

Lucas looked out the window and frowned, he felt something was wrong and that his brother was in danger. _I can't sleep anymore. I've gotta go find Claus._

The 11 year old boy quietly snuck out of his house, not wanting to wake up his Dad. Lucas quickly opened the door and began walking out before he heard Boney barking.

"Woof! Woof!" Boney barked.

"Shhh! Boney, quiet boy, I don't want you waking everyone up." Lucas pet the little brown dog to calm him down.

" _Lucas, why are you up? Shouldn't you be asleep?"_ Boney asked.

Using his PSI, Lucas is able to understand animals like Boney here. Sometimes he wondered if Claus could too since the boy sometimes react to something Boney says but maybe it was just coincidence. "I know I should be, but I couldn't get back to sleep. I'm worried about Claus."

The dog whimpered a bit. _"I'm worried too. I can't smell his scent anywhere."_

"I'm going to see if I can find him. Maybe he got lost in the woods or the mountains somewhere." Lucas said.

Boney stood up and looked at Lucas. _"Then let me go with you at least. Psychic powers or not, I won't let one of my pack get lost and in danger when I could've done something about it."_

Lucas couldn't help but smile at that. Boney was a very loyal friend indeed, he petted the dog. "Thank you Boney. I didn't want to go alone."

Boney licked his face and wagged his tail. The boy and his dog walked through the empty streets, only a few early risers were out and about. Lucas and Boney walked past the town and headed to the woods. Nocturnal creatures were still out such as owls and bats, but they didn't bother Lucas or Boney too much.

"Lucas?" The boy jumped at the sudden voice.

Boney didn't bark, rather he just sat there and watched in amusement as Lucas yelped. It was apparent the dog was familiar with this scent already.

"It's okay, it's just me, Duster." A middle aged man came limping over to the boy.

"Oh Duster, you scared me." Lucas said as he had a hand over his chest. "I forgot you're usually out and about around this time."

"Yeah, father wanted me to practice my skills out here." Duster sighed. "I'm surprised you're out here at this time."

* * *

 _Duster was someone the Magypsies found in the Osohe Castle the other day. He claimed he was looking for something shiny and valuable in the castle but was knocked out by some armored ghost. Ionia suggested he could make a great fighting buddy as he had some skills with fighting and stealth. Kumatora says she knew his father, Wess, and to some extent Duster himself, but she didn't remember them much. Kumatora used to be a princess in the abandoned Osohe Castle, but she never told me what happened. Duster and I became pretty good friends after we sparred together._

* * *

"Well… my twin brother Claus never came home last night. I couldn't sleep so Boney and I decided to search for him in the woods and the mountains." Lucas explained.

"Claus never came home? How odd." Duster frowned before he said, "Well in that case you shouldn't be out here without adult supervision around this time. So I'll go with you just to make sure you don't go missing too."

"Really? Thank you!" Lucas smiled, happy that he has more help.

"No problem, I wasn't in too big of a hurry to get back home anyway." Duster said.

Boney wagged his tail before he began sniffing the air. _"I smell some chimeras nearby. We should tread on carefully."_

Lucas nodded to his dog before gesturing Duster to follow. And so the group of three traveled through the woods, knocking out some aggressive animals or chimeras that decided to attack them. Duster's a really good kicker despite having a limp leg.

 _With Duster and Boney by my side, we were able to trek through the forest. We searched long and hard for my brother. We've come across a lot of creatures, animals and chimeras alike. We've found some unusual frogs that can make a bridge for us to cross over a river. I have no idea how tiny frogs are able to do that. We soon left the forest and began climbing the mountains. There were more dangerous creatures here, such as vultures and exploding trees. But we soon climbed to the top._

Duster was using staples to make a ladder for everyone to climb on, making it easier to reach the top. Lucas looked around and frowned. "We've searched everywhere and still no sign of Claus."

" _Maybe he isn't here."_ Boney whined.

"Well it was a long shot." Duster shrugged. "Let's try not to assume the worst."

Then suddenly a baby Drago hopped over to them, surprising the three. It gave a small roar before it hopped over to Lucas who backed away a bit from it. Ever since the Mecha Drago incident Lucas had been more wary of Dragos. When Lucas backed away from it, the baby Drago hopped closer to him.

"Hey, it seems to like you Lucas." Duster chuckled.

Lucas frowned as it playfully sniffed at him. "Um… I don't suppose you've seen Claus have you?"

Then a little monkey appeared with a collar around its neck. It blinked curiously at them. Lucas noticed, "Oh, hey aren't you that cute little monkey Fassad used to have?"

The monkey walked up to him and looked at him curiously. _"What's a young boy like you doing out here?"_

"I'm looking for my twin brother Claus. Have you seen him? He looks kinda like me but has orange hair instead of blond." Lucas asked.

" _I've seen that boy about half a year ago, when Fassad took him somewhere. I don't know where he is now. My name is Salsa by the way."_

Lucas frowned at this, Claus never told him about being taken by Fassad. Duster sighed, mumbling that he wished he could understand animals too.

Suddenly they heard an adult Drago's roar not too far away. The baby Drago suddenly gave a shout of its own and began hopping to the roar.

"What's going on?" Lucas asked.

" _Sounds like trouble."_ Salsa said before hurrying after the baby Drago.

" _Should we follow?"_ Boney asked Lucas.

Lucas frowned, "What if the Pigmask are trying to convert this poor Drago into another mecha monster? We can't allow that. Duster, Boney, let's go see what's up."

The two followed the psychic boy as they hurried after the baby Drago and the monkey. When they reached a wall they were surprised to see an adult Drago being confronted by a single person.

"Stop being so difficult. We need your help in order for the rise of the Dark Dragon to commence!" The person shouted.

The Drago only responded with a loud roar. The person began losing his patience. "You can't resist forever." The person pushed a button on a small device and a dark red aura began taking the Drago.

The Drago roared in pain before falling to the ground as the baby Drago hopped over to it and began licking its face in hopes of calming it down. Salsa then shrieked and jumped on the person from behind.

"GAH! GET OFF ME YOU CRAZY MONKEY!" The person shouted as he swiped at Salsa.

Lucas, Duster and Boney ran up into the scene and Lucas bend over to check out the fallen Drago. It weakly groaned at him as Lucas put a gentle hand over its nose. "You poor thing…"

Salsa screeched in pain when he was thrown down to the ground and then kicked by the person. Boney growled and Duster frowned.

"This is animal abuse, what do you think you're doing!?" Duster demanded the person.

"That's none of your business! My Master's given me the task to take over strong creatures to use against those infernal Pigmasks so that the great Dark Dragon may rise once it's time to pull the seven Needles!" The man spoke with passion.

"Dark Dragon? Seven Needles? What are you talking about?" Lucas demanded. "No excuse could justify the pain you're putting this poor Drago and any other innocent creatures in!" The blond haired boy was furious that this person would do such a thing and he thought the Pigmasks were bad.

"Oh lookie here. The chosen one who can use the legendary PK Love." The man said with a smirk, having that greedy spark in his eyes as if he just found some rare treasure. "You're the key factor into the Dark Dragon's awakening."

Lucas glared in confusion and anger, "I don't know any Dark Dragon, but I'm not going to let you get away with this! It's because people like you that everything's so messed up."

"Oh boo-hoo, cry me a river. Once the Dark Dragon awakens it won't matter anymore!" The man snapped. "And you're going to help us do it, kid." He began approaching Lucas.

Duster and Boney quickly stepped in front of Lucas protectively, "We're not going to let you kidnap this child."

"Fine, then I'll have to knock you out." The man said before taking out a laser gun. "A dog, a kid and a limping middle aged man, this'll be easy."

Duster immediately took out his Wall Staples and shot out the staples to pin the man down.

"What the!?"

Boney ran up and bit the guy's arm with his teeth, growling.

Lucas ran up and smacked the man with his wooden staff. The man struggled and broke his way out of the staples before shooting the laser gun at the three of them. All three of them were pushed back by it.

Lucas glared as he raised his hand, the man quickly got into a defensive position expecting an attack. "PK Shield!" Lucas summoned a barrier around him. "PK Shield!" he did the same for Boney then Duster. "There, this should keep us from feeling too much damage."

The man glared at this before he threw a bomb at them. Boney whimpered as he was hit, but the shield did help keep the impact from hurting him too much. Duster threw a smoke bomb at the man's face, causing his eyes to start watering.

"Gah! My eyes!"

While he was distracted, Lucas ran up to him with his wooden staff. "This is for the pain you gave all these creatures!" he yelled, slamming the man into the rock wall of the mountain.

"Ugh, such an annoying sentimental brat! Get off me!" The man kicked Lucas in the gut and shoved him off.

Lucas groaned as the man aimed his laser gun at him. "You're lucky I have to take you in alive or you'd be nothing but dust right now!"

"You wish." Lucas hissed back before Boney tackled the man away from Lucas.

The boy quickly stood up. "PK Lifeup alpha!" He cast Lifeup to heal from that brutal kick to the stomach.

The man roughly threw the dog down before standing up. "I guess you're tougher than I thought. Looks like I'll need some back-up to take the PK Love user after all." he pushed a button on a small device and it let out an alarm signal.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Duster demanded.

"I'm calling in reinforcement. We'll make sure to take the PK Love user to ensure the Dark Dragon's awakening!" The man began laughing crazily.

Boney barked suddenly and Lucas looked up, his face paling and blue eyes widen when he saw dozens of people in the sky. _How are they flying!?_

"Lucas, we need to get out of here now!" Duster suddenly yelled.

"B-but the Drago-"

"They'll be fine, they're after _you_ , let's go!" Duster grabbed Lucas's arm and began dragging him away from the incoming reinforcements with Boney right behind them.

"AFTER THEM!" Lucas heard the man shouting and the jets in the sky flying closer to them.

The three ran back down into the forest since it was far easier to hide from the sky with all the trees everywhere. But it's almost like they had a radar on Lucas or something, because they always seem to know where to pinpoint them.

"How do they keep finding us!?" Duster growled as he kept running along with Lucas and Boney.

"I don't know, maybe they can pick up on my PSI? I mean that makes sense since they want my power for this dark dragon thing!" The boy answered.

"Can't you suppress it then?" Duster asked him.

"W-well I was never taught to since there was no reason to hide it!" Lucas answered back.

Boney then started barking. _"I smell Kumatora nearby!"_

"Lucas! Over here!" The boy heard a familiar female voice.

* * *

Kumatora was near some bushes and was gesturing for him to come over to her. Without hesitation, Lucas, Duster and Boney ran over to her. The pink haired girl quickly touched Lucas's forehead and her hand glowed a slight red aura. Lucas felt something inside him shut down.

The people in the sky suddenly scattered around as if unsure where to go all of a sudden. Kumatora sighed in relief. "Good, it worked."

"What did you do?" Lucas asked.

"I shut down your PSI temporarily. It should come back in an hour or so." She told him. "That was close."

"Kumatora, do you know those people?" Duster asked her.

"Not especially no, but what I do know is that they're people who messed with a very special artifact when they shouldn't have. It brought them knowledge of the world and they've become devastated, to the point of obsessing over fixing the world by using the Dark Dragon's power." Kumatora explained. "Or at least that's what Ionia told me."

"What's this about Dark Dragons and Needles they keep mentioning?" Lucas asked.

"... I'm sorry Lucas, that's not something for me to say. The Magypsies feel it's best you don't know until it's time, then they'll explain everything to you." Kumatora said to him.

"But we're being attacked by these people who are willing to hurt creatures and people just to get this Dark Dragon to wake up." Lucas frowned.

"I know, and that's why we're training you. So you can defend yourself in case they attack. But don't worry, all will be explained, you just have to be patient." Kumatora promised him.

"Kumatora, I want to help Lucas too. He's just a kid, he shouldn't have to handle all this by himself." Duster spoke up.

"I'll be helping him too." The young lady said. "He won't be alone in this."

Boney licked Lucas's face, his way of saying he'll be behind him all the way too.

Lucas couldn't help but smile. "Thank you, all of you."

"But Lucas, what were you doing out here anyway?" Kumatora asked.

The boy frowned as he remembered why he came out here in the first place. "I was… looking for my brother Claus. He never came home last night and I got worried."

"Claus…? … Oh right, that kid who was with you when you had PSI fever." Kumatora said as she remembered Lucas having a twin brother.

"But he doesn't seem to be here." Duster spoke up. "We've searched the forest and mountains."

Boney gave a whine as Lucas pet his head. "I guess he's not here."

"Hey, don't give up kid, from what I've seen your brother is tough. I'm sure he was held up somewhere but he's just fine, you'll see." Kumatora said with confidence as the morning sun slowly began to rise over the horizon.

Lucas watched the sun slowly filling the dark sky with its warm light. The people in the sky quickly flew away from the forest, having given up on looking for them.

 _I don't know what it is about the morning sun that seems to welcome me, but it always manages to light up my darkest hour. I just hope Kumatora's right and that Claus will be home soon._

* * *

 **Yes, I am a sucker for the morning sun being risen into the sky. :3 I usually sleep in until noon because I stay up so late at night, so I rarely ever get to see the morning sun. And yes, now the foreshadowing is in place and this is probably the last time we see a random extremist. Next time the enemy is going to be more... of a group now. You'll see soon, anyways please leave a comment on what you think of the chapter. I am DarkFoxKit and I look forward to hearing from you.**


	7. Chapter 7: A Promotion

**And now we finally get back to Claus and see what happened with him. Let's hope that he wakes up as himself and not a chimera. ^^'**

 **thekingdomheartsfan : Yeah, Duster needed to be introduced. And yup, Lucas can talk to Boney! :D And it sucks that Satoru Iwata died, I hope this doesn't send Nintendo downhill. D:**

 **Calm : Hi again! And thank you for letting me know what you thought of the chapter! It's great that you're wondering what the two brothers will face, and I'm sure people will want to know how Lucas will react if he discovers Claus's secret~ I hope you enjoy this chapter too!**

 **Connor the speling pro : Yeah, I like to show and tell what's going on in the story since- well it's not animated so most of the time I kind of HAVE to tell- it's a good idea to be able to show the action of the beliefs from each character and what they'd do in order to protect it.**

 **Yeah, right now the story's just focusing on Claus and sometimes Lucas, but once we get into the next arc the story will show more of Boney, Duster and Kumatora! ;)**

 **Ah yes, the forever learning curve of how to use grammar. Not sure if I'll ever get it but I'll do my best! Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

 **Soleil : Well Lucas HAS been training with Kumatora, Ionia and Aeolia for the past year so I'd imagine the boy can put up a fight. And I'm really sorry to hear about what happened to your poor cat. I accidentally stepped on my pregnant cat once, that really bothered me for a long time as I was worried I hurt her and killed her kittens (they're fine by the way).**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: A Promotion**

 _Ugh… everything hurts… I can hardly move. Am I conscious or asleep? Am I dead or alive? I couldn't even tell. Sometimes I would hear voices but it's hard to hear them, they sound so far away…_

"What was he doing out there?"

"He was struck down by his own lightning!"

"He saved the colony though!"

"Take him to Dr. Andonuts, he'll fix him right up."

 _Those last words scared me. I remember leaving the base to escape from Fassad and Dr. Andonuts. I didn't want to be a chimera… I remember fighting… wanting to defend a small colony I helped build… but then I was hit by my own PK Thunder… stupid metal arm…_

 _What's going to happen to me now? I fear once I wake up I'll be a chimera. I'm scared… I don't want to be a chimera… Fassad will probably kill me for impersonating a Colonel and then leaving the base without permission. Dad and Lucas will kill me too for not coming home for so long… It's going to be a nightmare when I wake up. I'll be lucky if I'm even a mechanical chimera and not end up like that horse-tarantula thing. I still can't believe they would make something like that, it's existence alone looks bloody painful._

" _Don't be scared." I heard a familiar soothing voice._

 _I felt gentle arms wrap around me. I couldn't see who was hugging me, but I didn't care. I didn't want to move from their arms. "But how can I not be? Everyone has every right to punish me."_

" _For what? You did more good than harm. You helped those people when they needed it." The voice said gently as the arms cradled him._

" _But I left without permission… and I left Lucas and Dad without telling them anything all night long, possibly longer. I… I don't want to be a chimera." I said to the voice._

" _You won't be. Just relax, you'll be fine Claus." The voice assured._

 _I felt sleepy all of a sudden. How strange since I thought I was already asleep, but I felt so warm and safe that I began nodding off before I knew it._

" _Rest now, my son." The voice said as its hand gently played with my hair. I remember Mom used to do that to help me get to sleep. I couldn't help but yawn as I closed my eyes and fell into a comfortable sleep in these arms that I trust._

* * *

Claus groaned as he began returning to consciousness. He moaned a bit as someone shouted. "He's waking up!"

When Claus blinked open his eyes he felt a major headache as Dr. Andonuts and Fassad came into his vision, both with worried looks on their faces. "Ugh… what happened to me?" Claus moaned, rubbing his head. The boy vaguely realized he was wearing his striped shirt again, seems they had taken off the Colonel outfit he was wearing while he was out.

"You had us worried!" Fassad snapped. "What were you thinking when you stowed away on a colony mission airship dressed as a Colonel?"

"Take it easy Fassad, the young boy just woke up from an almost comatose state, give him a minute to recover a bit then he can answer you." Dr. Andonuts said softly.

Claus rubbed his eyes to try and reduce the headache and he said, "I… I heard you… you were going to turn me… into a chimera… I got scared…"

Fassad frowned and was rather surprised when he heard that. "What? Where did you hear that?"

"Some Pigmasks were talking about it. They said you were discussing with Dr. Andonuts about an upgrade. They even suggested that meant you were planning to turn me into a chimera because of how much I've been screwing up lately." The young boy answered.

Fassad was about to say something when Dr. Andonuts beat him to it, "My boy, Fassad had no such plans on turning _you_ into a chimera. He was worried about you since your performance dropped."

Claus slowly sat up on the stretcher he was laying on, rubbing his head. "Oh… I guess those were just rumors then…"

"Of course they were. I didn't mean for you to think we would do such a thing to you. We create chimeras out of necessity, not for fun." The banana lover said. "And because I was worried for you I talked to Dr. Andonuts about this."

The short professor took some kind of helmet from the desk and placed it beside Claus. "As I've told Fassad I believe there is nothing physically wrong with you, it's all mental. You've lost confidence in yourself since that battle with the enemy and this caused your body to react, believing you're really not good enough anymore of course you'll mess up. The more you mess up, the less confidence you have, it's a vicious cycle really."

Claus frowned at this. "How can I fix my confidence?"

"That's something only you can do." Dr. Andonuts said.

"But it seems you did quite an admirable job during the colony raid." Fassad said. "I heard it was you who took down most of the enemy that were using jetpacks."

The boy thought back on that. "Oh… yeah, I wasn't thinking about how bad I've become or the what ifs, I just fought because I was so angry at them for hurting the people I've worked with."

"There, you see? You hadn't become worse, you just need more confidence." Dr. Andonuts reassured. "This helmet may just be what you need to help you too."

"Uh… what does it do? Protect my head?" Claus asked as he picked up the gray helmet and studied it, there was some kind of block that would cover his left eye.

"Normally that _would_ be a helmet's job." Dr. Andonuts said with a nod. "But this is a special helmet that I've designed specially for you, Claus. It will help you have precise aim with your PSI Cannon and it can analyze and inform you of people or creatures you've never seen before. It'll be especially helpful when you're facing an enemy as it'll give you the basics of what they can do."

"So it's basically like a computer." Fassad said. "Why don't you try it on and see how well you can use it?"

"This won't fry my brain or anything would it?" Claus nervously asked, remembering about that chip the professor put in his brain.

"No, don't worry it's perfectly safe." Dr. Andonuts reassured him.

The orange haired boy hesitated for a minute before putting the helmet on his head. He was surprised that it fit so comfortably and the block that covered his left eye was actually see-thru.

"Now the helmet is operated mentality, it goes with your PSI and the chip in your brain. So basically it's something that can only work for you." Dr. Andonuts explained. "If you want to scan someone to gain information you just have to think it."

Claus nodded as he thought about getting some information on Fassad. The block began beeping before showing information on Fassad. It showed he was a Magypsy and his real name is Locria.

"Wait… Fassad, you're a Magypsy?" The boy looked at the man in shock.

"... Yes… I am." Fassad or Locria said with a sigh.

"But you… why… why are you here and against the other Magypsies?" Claus asked in confusion.

"I have my reasons." Fassad said. "I don't believe in using the Dark Dragon's power, that is that."

"Good, that means the helmet is working." Dr. Andonuts spoke proudly. "You can test to see how well it can help your aim during training later."

Claus took off the helmet and rubbed his head, it was still aching a little bit. "But what happened to me? What's going to happen to me now? I impersonated a Colonel, left the base without permission and I'm sure Dad and Lucas are worried sick about me."

"Calm down." Fassad said gently. "Have a banana." The Magypsy handed Claus an unpeeled Luxury Banana.

Claus blinked as he looked at the banana and at Fassad before taking it. "Thanks."

"While it's true you had impersonated a Colonel and left the base without permission, and those crimes are usually punished, you seem to have a good reason for it." Fassad said. "Believing we would turn you into a chimera, frankly I'd try to hightail it out of here too if I thought that someone was going to do that to me."

"But they're still crimes." Claus said with a sigh.

"True." Fassad hesitated. "But after hearing what you did for the colony stationed in one of the continents we believe you are a natural leader. You managed to get the group to do more than our other Colonels ever done and you're only an 11 year old boy. You also know the heavy consequences of impersonating a Colonel and leaving the base without permission."

"I had to learn more about the army I was in." Claus stated. "I didn't want to be clueless."

"At least you're more competent than most rookies." Fassad grumbled.

"So… what did Master Porky say? What's my punishment going to be?" Claus asked nervously.

"Your punishment…?" Fassad said. He looked at Dr. Andonuts a little uneasily before turning back to Claus. "Well… Master Porky had said that he believed it would be out of line to punish you directly, since you still helped a lot with the new colony even with a fake identity."

Claus frowned, not sure where Fassad was going with this. "Sooo… am I being punished or not?"

"Master Porky decided that your leadership skills should be worked on after what you did at the colony." Fassad said. "He wants you to work under the supervision and aid of the other Pigmask Colonels and Majors. However, you're still to work with me as you have before, but more rigorously."

 _He can be even more rigorous than he already has with training?_ Claus mused, dreading the thought. "So I'll just be working more?" He unpeeled the banana and began munching on it.

"Yes, if you want to put it that way. Your work will increase tenfold, so _that_ is your punishment." Fassad said to him.

Claus thought about something as he swallowed his bite. "What about my uniform? Don't I still need one? I mean it'd be awkward to go out on these missions with just my casual clothes."

"Master Porky has your new uniform ready." Fassad said. "Just look in the closet of your room and you'll see it. But I'd imagine you want to get back home now after being gone all night."

"Oh yeah! What time is it?" Claus quickly asked.

"It's already almost noon." Dr. Andonuts said, looking at his watch.

"I-I better get home now. I don't want Lucas and Dad thinking some wild chimera got to me like it did with Mom." Claus sighed. "I'll look into the uniform and test out the helmet tomorrow."

"Very well, you're dismissed. You may use the Instant Revitalizing Chamber if you want before you leave." Fassad said as Claus finished up the banana and threw the peel away into a nearby trash can.

"Thanks, Fassad." The boy said as he gave a small smile.

* * *

 _I couldn't believe my luck. Fassad and Master Porky both punished and promoted me for what I did. I don't know whether to be happy or scared, but at the moment the one thing on my mind is going home. I left my helmet back in my room and put on the bracelet to suppress my PSI. When I came back to Tazmily I saw some people looking over at me as if surprised to see me. Asking me where I've been and that my family's been worried sick. I ignored them since I already knew they would ask me these questions. When I came up to the house, Boney was the first to greet me, happily barking and licking my face._

" _Claus! Claus! I'm so happy you're back!"_ Boney yipped happily.

Claus chuckled as he rubbed his dog's head. "Hey, hey, I'm happy to see you too boy." Claus had to be careful when reacting to animals, especially Boney as he didn't want them telling Lucas he could understand them due to his PSI.

Hearing the dog barking, Flint went to check outside and dropped his 2x4 when he saw his son there. "You're back…"

Claus gave a nervous smile and waved to his father. "H-hi Dad… uh… sorry I'm late… things got kinda complicated…"

"Claus?" The blond haired boy peeked from behind the house and suddenly charged at him. "CLAUS!" he tackled the boy to the ground in a big hug.

"Wah!" Claus yelped as he fell to the ground from his brother's sudden embrace. "Whoa! Geez Lucas, you act like you haven't seen me in three years or something!"

"Where have you been?! I-I thought… I was worried something could have happened to you!" Lucas said, giving him a concerned look.

"Oh, I just… went out somewhere for a bit, but I was… too far from home so I stayed the night somewhere else." Claus said, hoping that enough would stop Lucas's questioning.

Lucas frowned a little. He didn't look like he really believed Claus's story, and Claus became a little nervous.

"I was searching for you all night though! Even Boney couldn't smell you anywhere in the forest or the mountains near grandpa's house!" Lucas told him.

"Oh, I… didn't go to those places." Claus quickly said. "I went… somewhere else, somewhere more to the east."

"But why?" Lucas asked, frowning.

Flint came up to the two boys, "Come in, it's almost lunch time."

"But Dad, Claus still hasn't told us where he went." Lucas protested. "What if you get lost again Claus?"

"I didn't get lost, I just… lost track of time." Claus said, not looking at Lucas's eyes directly.

"I trust you boys to be on your own." Flint said calmly. "Claus came home safe and sound and that's all I could ask for."

Lucas kept his arms around his brother. "But you were hospitalized before… I was worried something worse happened when you didn't come home last night…"

Claus tried to smile reassuringly. He looked at Lucas, but not directly into his eyes. "Hey, it's fine now Lucas. Like Dad said, I can take care of myself even without PSI. If something does happen to me, I'll try my best to make sure you two know about it, okay?" Claus felt a little bad lying about him not having PSI, but he wanted to make his worried brother feel better.

"Exactly! You don't have PSI! What if you get caught by someone thinking you're me or something?" Lucas frowned worriedly. "I… I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you because of me…"

Flint tilted his hat before he looked at Lucas and Claus. "PSI? I'm afraid I don't follow."

"It's psychic powers." Lucas said quietly.

"What? You can use psychic powers?" Flint looked at them.

"W-well Lucas can. I can't…" Claus lied again, feeling his stomach sink every time he did.

"And you both kept this secret?" Flint asked.

"We… we just didn't think we should tell you." Lucas said timidly.

Flint looked slightly ruffled by the new information, adjusting the hat on his head. "How long did you have this power, Lucas?"

"Um… I think it's been a year and a half now." Lucas said. He explained a little more about how he's been trained by the Magypsies and Kumatora in that span of time, which is why he's been gone from the house for most of the day since then.

"Oh… I see." Flint said, taking a moment to take in the info Lucas told him. "Well… I understand that it must have been very important to keep this power of yours a secret, and it must have been hard work having to train so much with it, but… I'm still a little disappointed that you never mentioned much about it to me."

"S-sorry Dad…" Lucas apologized sadly.

"It's alright, Lucas." Flint said in sincerity. "I just want to let you know that I still care about you and Claus even after your mom died, and it would worry me less knowing what you've been doing all this time. I'm not angry at you, Lucas, I'm just concerned."

Lucas nodded his head. "I promise I'll keep you updated on what I've been doing then. But what about Claus? He has no PSI but he disappears too."

Claus nervously rubbed the back of his head. "What can I say? I get bored without you around so I like to go exploring. I guess I went a little too far today, but nothing bad happened."

"Regardless, be more careful next time. I don't want to lose my two boys too." Flint said. "Now let's head inside for some lunch."

* * *

 _Ever since then I've been training hard with Fassad and the other Pigmasks. Fassad assigned me to follow the colony Pigmasks under the supervision of the Colonel and Majors. I helped improve the colony with my indirect and direct involvement. The Pigmask uniform I was wearing was just a black coat over my striped shirt. I don't know why it's only a coat, but at least it's something. The helmet helps keep most of my upper face hidden from view and I can breathe and eat out of it, a whole lot better than that one nose hole mask everyone else wears if you ask me._

 _About another six months had passed and it's been a total of two full years since Mom passed away. Lucas and I turned 12 the other day as we have the same birthday. We've both improved over time. There were some raids from those annoying extremists, but they were easily dealt with. The helmet's precision aim made my PSI Cannon much more deadly, in fact I rarely had to use my other offensive PSI in battle._

 _It was the day after my 12th birthday when I walked into my room did something unusual happen._

* * *

"H-hey! What- Li'l Miss Marshmallow?" Claus ran in his room when he saw the blonde robot maid cleaning up everything. "What are you doing here? Why are you cleaning all my stuff?"

"I WAS ASSIGNED TO CLEAN THIS ROOM UP. IT IS NO LONGER NEEDED." The robot maid answered.

"What? What do you mean it's no longer needed!? I still use this room!" Claus snapped.

"I WAS ORDERED BY KING P TO CLEAN UP THIS ROOM THAT IS ALL." Li'l Miss Marshmallow stated.

Shocked by this and worried what it could mean, Claus went to go find Fassad and demand answers from him. _Are they kicking me out? I thought I was doing better!_

Claus was passing by some common Pigmasks and looked over to them, "Hey you guys! Where is Fassad?"

Some of them started whispering to each other nervously that the "PSI boy" was talking to them. One of them spoke up, "U-uh, he's over in the area where you two train, sir! Said he wanted to see you, sir!"

Claus frowned a little at how the Pigmask kept calling him sir over and over again, but just said thanks and moved on to find out where Fassad was. The boy opened the doors to the training room and found Fassad there.

"Fassad! I found Li'l Miss Marshmallow cleaning out my room and she said Master Porky told her it wasn't needed anymore. What is the meaning of this? Are you firing me or something?" Claus demanded.

"Claus, calm down a little!" Fassad said, seeing how angry Claus looked as he questioned this. "This isn't something to be angry about, I called you down for something very special."

Claus calmed down a little, willing to hear more. How could something be so special that it involved his room being completely cleaned out? He had gotten used to the cold and hard cot in there with nothing but a bathroom and a closet as decor.

"You see, both Master Porky and I saw how well you've been managing since you worked with the higher ranking Pigmasks, and we feel that it's time you be promoted to a much higher rank." Fassad paused for dramatic effect. "Claus, you've been promoted to Commander!"

Claus stared at the Magypsy for a good minute or two as if he was frozen. The banana lover blinked when he noticed how still the orange haired boy was. "Claus? Uh… Claus?"

The boy fell to the floor with a THUD. Fassad blinked, "Gee, you'd think he'd be ecstatic with this news."

As if by cue, Claus immediately got back to his feet and said, "With all due respect Fassad, but HAVE YOU GONE INSANE!? You're going to let a recently turned 12 year old boy become a Commander of an ARMY!?"

Fassad blinked again, seeing how Claus was more unsure than excited about taking the offer. "Claus, it's not about the age of your body, it's more about how well you can lead and direct the Pigmasks, and you've definitely showed that in the past few months since you've been working with the higher-ranking Pigmasks."

Claus still looked unsure. "I-I don't know… Helping out while having superiors watching over me is one thing, but to be the actual Commander? I don't think I'm ready for that…" The orange haired boy suddenly felt like Lucas when his parents caught him stealing cookies red handed.

"Well, based on what everyone in the army's seen, we think that you're more than ready to be an 'actual Commander' for the Pigmasks. But, if you _really_ feel unsure, then I suppose that you can decline the offer." Fassad said, sounding a little disappointed having to say that last part.

The boy sighed before he said, "It's a great honor, really it is… It's just… how do I know I'm really ready for such a big responsibility?"

"Well, all of us feel like you're ready already to take it up. I'd say that you should become Commander, but if it really troubles you…" Fassad sighed here. "I suppose you could turn down the offer if you _really_ wanted to."

Claus could practically feel the disappointment radiating off of Fassad. Thinking about it, the boy wondered. _They must have a lot of faith in me if everyone thinks I'm ready to go from the new recruit to a Commander in just a year. I don't want to let them down…_

Finally, Claus spoke up, "I'll take the offer. I'll see for myself if I really am capable of being the Commander of the Pigmask Army."

Fassad immediately perked up when Claus said this. "Nwehehe, good! I'm glad you took up the offer, I know you'll make a great Commander! Now, about your _new_ room…"

 _New room? Oh, so that's why they took my old one._ Claus wondered what his new room would be like now that he was promoted.

"This way." Fassad said excitedly, leading Claus into a part of the building that he's only seen the most privileged Pigmasks occupy.

Claus couldn't help but look around in awe as he was literally walking on red carpet. This entire hallway has a long red carpet and it was velvet. The boy followed the Magypsy down the fancy hallway, seeing mostly Colonels in the area. They walked up the stairs and only a few doors were present, each looked pretty pristine for his taste.

"Ah, here's your room." Fassad gestured to the door on the far left. "You'll find your new uniform on your new bed."

Claus opened the door and was taken back by how big and fancy the room is. It has red velvet carpet, the walls had a lot of nice decor. The bed was big and fluffy. There was another door that lead to a nice clean bathroom, with a bathtub shower. "Whoa… this place is… really… nice!" It was almost like its own house.

"As the new Commander of the Pigmasks, of course you're given only the best housing of all the ranks!" Fassad said proudly. "Take some time to get used to it, you know where I'll be if you need me." With that, Fassad left to leave Claus to take in his new position and setting.

The young boy was pretty much overwhelmed by this room. It was like moving out of a mudhole and living in a fancy mansion all of a sudden. Claus kept looking around in amazement until he came to his new bed. It was much softer and bigger than the cold hard cot he had to sleep in sometimes. The boy noticed a new black leather coat with a zipper and some faux gray fur over the collar, some gray leather gloves on top of it, a nice looking pair of orange pants, and a belt with the pig snout insignia on the buckle. And beside these nice looking clothes was his helmet, it was good to see they brought it into this new room of his.

The boy picked up the jacket and realized what it was. "Ah, this must be my new Commander's uniform. Looks pretty cool, a lot more decent than those Pigmask uniforms."

Claus changed into this new uniform. Putting on the new leather jacket over his striped shirt, it was a lot better than that old, rough black coat he used to wear. He changed his shorts with the orange pants and buckled them with the nice belt. He also put on the gray leather gloves over his hands, his flesh and robotic one. Claus held his helmet under his arm and looked at himself in the mirror.

"Wow, I hardly recognize myself." Claus smiled as he put on the helmet. "Heh, I'll bet even my own brother wouldn't recognize me if I had this and the helmet on."

 _And so began my career as the Commander of the Pigmask Army. I was still unsure about it, but I didn't let that hold me back. I made sure to do my missions carefully as I helped colonize this dead planet in hopes of reviving it again to its former glory… who knows, maybe we can help make it into something even better one day._

* * *

 **Ooooh, looks like Claus has just been promoted to Commander rank! You thought the Masked Man wasn't going to be in this story? Well think again! It's true he's not a chimera here like he is in the game, but remember things are different here than it was in Mother 3. This will be better explained later, but for now you guys can come up with your own theories. Wonder how this will affect future events? You'll have to find out next week! Please leave a review on what you think. I am DarkFoxKit and I look forward to hearing from you!**


	8. Chapter 8: Forest Fire

**Hey there fans! And this is where things finally start picking up. We're back with Lucas's chapter and things are going to get HOT. ;) But first, time to answer back some reviews.**

 **thekingdomheartsfan : Yeah, Claus had every reason to freak out there. :P But maybe he'll do a good job, right?**

 **Calm : Hey there Calm! Always nice to see you~ I assume you're a shiny Hydregion judging from your devianart, right? I raised a Hydregion in White 2, one of my best teammates if I do say so myself. :) And yeah, it's almost unbelievable they have so much faith in a boy who's barely 12 years old to promote him to Commander rank! But then again Porky is the one in charge so it's not THAT unbelievable. And... Kit Kat and Wildfire? ^^' Quite fitting for this chapter in particular.**

 **Soleil : I like hearing what theories fans may come up with! :D And the possibilities are indeed quite open~ However, I'll just let you see what happens as time goes on in the story. And I won't say what's in store for our little Claus, don't wanna ruin the surprise after all. :P And I really hope that's not Willy Wonka's gum you're chewing, otherwise you may want to spit it out before you get to the blueberry pie flavor. ^^'**

 **Connor the speling pro : Yeah, some people make out to be an abusive or absent father who doesn't care for Lucas. I know why, it's because there are evidence of him doing that in the game- the former being from what he said about "Daddy's going to beat you up" during the mushroom trip, and the fact he keeps going to the mountains to look for Claus kinda implies he leaves Lucas alone a lot. I like to think that Flint does care for him, he's just also really stubborn and refuses to believe that Claus is gone too.**

 **That's true, Claus is more of a hasty and act first kind of guy, although as the commander of the army he does have to learn to think too. It's just the Pigmasks already gained his trust and he's been with them for a year now so it's not hard to believe that he'll be on their side. And yeah, if you think someone's going to experiment and possibly mutate on you I highly doubt you'd want to stick around for it. ^^'**

 **They may or may not reconcile and tell each other everything, but we'll just have to see. :3**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Forest Fire**

Lucas was helping his father set up the tables for dinner that evening. The two were starting dinner without a certain orange haired boy.

 _Claus had sent us a letter pigeon, stating that he'll be late coming home today due to some complications but that he was perfectly safe. I wish he would tell us what he's up to all this time. Does he have some secret life that we don't know about? Oh well, at least he let us know that he'll be late coming home. It's been two years since Mom's death and that money and technology has been introduced to Tazmily. This town had changed quite a lot since then. More dirt path were becoming paved roads. People were becoming new recruits for the Pigmask Army. And people are relying more and more on technology. Dad and I still prefer to use things, as everyone else is calling it, the old fashioned way. We still use carrier pigeons to send letters to each other rather than by email on a computer that everyone else is using._

 _It's been rather quiet since half a year ago when those people attacked us. I was glad to see the Drago and its baby were okay. I hadn't seen Salsa the monkey and I worried about what happened to him. Ever since then, my training has been less and less lately. I'm tired and done, I don't want to leave Claus and Dad alone anymore. But Claus still wants to go out on his own and insist that I don't come with him. I really wish I knew what was going on with him. But I can't shake the feeling something bad is about to happen._

* * *

Lucas was feeding his dog Boney as he filled his doggy bowl up with healthy dog food. "Eat up Boney."

" _Thank you for the food!"_ The dog yipped gratefully before digging in.

Lucas smiled to him but looked out the window. He couldn't shake that feeling that something was wrong and it troubled him.

"Come on Lucas, your food's going to get cold if you don't eat it soon." Flint called over his son.

"Coming Dad." Lucas said as he tried to shrug off the feeling.

Things seemed normal enough, dinner went on as normal. Boney wasn't barking and Flint was tending to the sheep as evening approached. Lucas still couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding.

"Dad, I'm going to go see Kumatora for a bit, okay?" Lucas called to his father as he opened the door.

"Are you sure, Lucas?" Flint asked. "It's going to get dark soon."

"I just need to ask her about something that's been bothering me." Lucas said.

Flint tilted his hat and said, "Okay, but come back home before it gets too late."

"Thanks Dad." Lucas smiled to him before leaving the house.

The boy began walking when Boney barked and ran up beside him. _"What's the matter Lucas? You seem troubled about something."_

"Yeah. I don't know why but I keep having the feeling something bad is about to happen." Lucas frowned. "I'm going to talk to Kumatora about it. It could have something to do with my PSI."

 _"Do you want me to go with you?"_ Boney asked.

Lucas hesitated for a moment. He wanted Boney to keep him company, especially with this unease sense he's been feeling, but he didn't want to leave his father alone just in case something does happen. "No. You stay here and make sure Dad is okay. I'll have Kumatora with me in case something happens."

At this, the dog whined a bit. _"Aww… okay. Be careful out there Lucas."_

* * *

Lucas nodded and pet his dog before moving on. He walked past the village, still getting that sense of foreboding. Lucas stopped in the center of town. It was just then as if the sun suddenly disappeared from the sky and the village grew dark and everyone disappeared into their houses. It was as if time was suddenly speeding up at an enormous rate and Lucas could only stand there and watch. The wind became chilling and he saw a single silhouette standing there, watching him.

Lucas was frozen, he had no idea what to do. Then almost as quickly as it began, it disappeared and Lucas saw the people were still out and about. The boy shook his head. _What was that?_

"Lucas?" The boy turned when he heard his name.

"Fuel?" Lucas was surprised to see the boy there. Fuel was about the same age as him and Claus, sometimes they would play with each other. "What are you doing here?"

"There was some weird guys asking about someone with PSI. I don't know what PSI is, but they threaten to burn down Tazmily if we don't find this person." Fuel said with a frown.

"What? Burn down Tazmily!?" Lucas said with a jolt of fear. "Fuel, a-a-are you sure?"

"That's what they said. Dad told them to take a hike but I'm worried that those people will do it." Fuel said with a frown. "I don't know what to do so I've been asking around if anyone knows what PSI is."

 _I wondered if these were the same people who attacked me before. What do they want with me?_ Lucas frowned before he said, "We better warn the villagers, this could be dangerous."

"I've tried but nobody will listen. They think because I'm just a kid that it's just my vivid imagination getting the better of me." The brown haired boy said with a frown.

Lucas didn't like this. Tazmily was in danger and it's his fault, he knew he had to do something. Saying a silent prayer, Lucas said to Fuel, "Then take me where you saw them."

"What? Why Lucas?" Fuel asked in surprise.

"Just trust me on this, Fuel. Maybe I can talk to them." Lucas said.

"But they don't listen to reason. They made it clear they're determined to burn everything to the ground if they don't get what they want." Fuel argued.

"Don't worry Fuel. I'm sure I can talk to them, just take me there." Lucas insisted.

Fuel sighed and said, "Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you Lucas."

* * *

 _As Fuel was leading me into the forest I couldn't help but feel anxious, nervous and scared. I wished my brother Claus was here, he may not have PSI but I've always felt braver with him around._

When the two boys walked they both heard someone shouting, "Let go of me you big brute!"

Lucas gasped as he recognized that voice. "Kumatora!" He bit his lip before turning to Fuel. "Stay here Fuel, I don't want you getting hurt!"

"Lucas I can take care of myself! I won't let you go alone!" Fuel spoke up.

"No Fuel, this is something I have to do on my own!" Lucas said quickly. "Just stay hidden and don't let these guys find you!"

Without waiting for a response, Lucas hurried towards Kumatora's voice. The boy hurried through the forest as her voice got louder and it was clear she was in a struggle. When the boy got into a clearing that's when he saw Kumatora fighting against four tanks and… Pigmasks?

 _What? Why are the Pigmasks kidnapping Kumatora?_ Lucas never really trusted them, but he thought they were people who were at least _trying_ to help Tazmily.

"PK Fire!" Kumatora shot out flames from her hands and trying to burn the tanks, but it wasn't doing much.

"Stop resisting! You are coming with us whether you like it or not PSI user!" A Pigmask in pink snapped.

"Like heck I will!" Kumatora snapped.

One of the tanks shot a missile at her. Kumatora cringed as she braced herself for impact. The girl already looked tired and Lucas knew she was at her limit. Thinking fast, he concentrated. "PK Shield!"

Lucas put up a barrier around Kumatora, barely protecting her from that missile as it explored on the barrier. The Pigmasks all oinked in surprise at the sudden barrier and Lucas ran over to Kumatora.

"PK Lifeup Beta!" Lucas's hands glowed green as Kumatora felt her wounds disappearing and her body becoming energized. "Kumatora! Are you okay?"

The pink haired woman looked over at him, surprised. "Lucas? What are you doing here?"

"Saving you!"

"But they're after PSI users! You're in danger now!"

"That kid… Isn't that the new Commander?" One of the blue Pigmasks said nervously.

"Of course he's not, don't be stupid! But he does use PSI like the girl. Grab them both!" Another blue Pigmask demanded.

"Lucas we can't fight them like this, we better run for it." Kumatora said.

"But where would we go? They'll hurt everyone in Tazmily if we run!" Lucas protested.

"We don't have time to worry about that, let's go!" Kumatora grabbed the boy's arm and dragged him into the forest.

"They're getting away!" One of the pink Pigmask shouted.

"They won't get far." A blue Pigmask growled. "Burn down this forest, make sure they have no place to hide!"

"Yes sir!" The other Pigmasks oinked as they began readying their bombs.

* * *

Kumatora and Lucas stopped after a while to catch their breath. They were deep in the forest and the sun had just went down.

"Kumatora… why are the Pigmasks after PSI users? I mean I didn't really like them because they turn animals into chimeras, but I didn't think they'd stoop so low to kidnap people!" Lucas said with a frown.

The pink haired girl sighed and said, "I don't know why either. For a long time I thought the Pigmasks were like the cops, they're law enforcers and not really the bad guys. They just suddenly came up to me and demanded that I come with them because I can use PSI. Something isn't right here."

"We've got to do something. We can't just sit here and wait, what if they do something drastic to get to us?" Lucas asked frantically.

"I'm sure they wouldn't do such a thing." Kumatora reassured. "We'll just have to be more careful. Come on, let's see if we can find our way back to the village, I doubt the Pigmask would want to arrest us with people around."

"If you say so…" Lucas had his doubts, these Pigmasks were acting weird, he wouldn't put it past them to go through with their threat if what Fuel said was right. "Oh no… Fuel! I left him behind when I heard you struggling!"

"I'm sure he'll be fine, they're only hunting down people with PSI." Kumatora said calmly. "Now come on, we better not stay in one place too long."

Lucas stood up and began following Kumatora, but the two barely took three steps when suddenly they heard an explosion and the entire forest began to shake. Shortly after the trembles, smoke began reaching their noses and the darkness was cut through with an ominous red light.

Lucas and Kumatora yelped when they realized what just happened; the Pigmask are bombing the forest! Lucas feared this would happen. "Kumatora! They're burning the forest!"

"I can see that Lucas! When did these Pigmasks become so crazy!?" Kumatora growled. "This fire will lead back to Tazmily. We've got to warn everyone!"

The two hurried through the forest, trying not to get caught by the Pigmasks or the fire. There were more explosions and more fire began to spread quickly. Animals and chimeras alike were all running from the fire in a panicked frenzy, making it hard for the two PSI users to keep going without getting trampled.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Kumatora shouted in anger as the animals kept crushing them. "PK FIRE!" She surrounded herself with flames, causing the animals to jump back in fright from her.

Lucas yelped as he backed away from her. "Kumatora! The forest doesn't need _more_ fire!"

"Well then these animals better not crush me!" She snapped irritably.

There was another explosion, it caused Lucas to lose his balance and fall on his face. The boy groaned as Kumatora quickly helped him up, "Come on, get on your feet!"

Lucas managed to balance himself and they took off again. They came across a clearing surrounded by fire, there was too much and it was too hot. They turned back the other way, going through the smaller flames that wouldn't hurt as much. Lucas hissed as he used PK Healing to heal up their burns.

"Hang in there Lucas, we're almost there." Kumatora reassured him as he was getting tired physically and mentally.

* * *

The two soon came up on someone lying on the ground. Lucas gasped, "M-Mr. Lighter!"

The man known as Lighter was on the ground, he looked rather ill. "Breathed in… so much… smoke… Where… where's Fuel?"

Lucas paled. _Is Fuel still in the forest!?_ "PK Healing." He whispered as he helped Lighter's body expel the smoke in his lungs.

Kumatora noticed the fire was getting hotter as it began spreading. "We better hurry, the fire will reach the village soon."

"I-I know." Lucas looked back, he knew Fuel was in there somewhere and it was his fault. "Kumatora, I need you to take Mr. Lighter into the village with you and warn everyone."

"What? Why me?" Kumatora frowned as she looked at him. "What are you going to do, Lucas?"

"I know Fuel's still in there somewhere. I have to find him. You get Mr. Lighter and get back to the village. Hurry!" Lucas said to her before he began running back into the forest.

"Lucas! You'll be captured or burned alive!" Kumatora yelled, but the blond haired boy kept going. "Ugh… I guess I'm rubbing off of him." She quickly helped Lighter up and put his arm around her shoulders. "Come on now, we've got a village to warn."

* * *

Lucas ran into the burning forest and desperately looking around for the other boy. "Fuel!" he began choking on the smoke. "F-FUEL!" The boy had to put his mouth into his shirt to keep from inhaling too much smoke and put his head down as much as he could.

 _Come on Fuel, where are you? Please don't be dead…_ Lucas couldn't get through to a lot of places, there was so much fire and it was too hot to approach.

"H-help… someone…" Lucas heard Fuel's voice, it was weak and choking.

Immediately the boy hurried to where he heard Fuel's voice and he saw the boy under some fallen burning wood. Fuel could not move and the fire was going to incinerate him soon. Lucas almost gasped but he kept himself from doing so, not wanting to breathing in more smoke than he should. Lucas had to keep his mouth and nose covered, but he focused on the branches over Fuel's body.

"PK Love!" He shot out the familiar blue energy that exploded hexagonally, easily destroying the branches. Lucas hurried over to Fuel, the boy looked like he passed out. "Fuel! Wake up!"

Lucas felt tired, but he forced himself to focus as he placed a hand over Fuel's body. "PK Lifeup alpha."

Fuel gasped as his body suddenly felt better and sat up. Lucas quickly used his hand to cover Fuel's mouth. "Don't breathe in too much smoke. Come on, we have to get out of here!"

Fuel immediately nodded in agreement and followed Lucas. The two boys were hurrying out of the forest as the place began burning down. There weren't too many places they could go, the fire was too hot or the burning trees blocked many of their paths. Lucas refused to give up as he kept trying to find a way out, Fuel made sure to follow him. Because of the thick smoke, neither of the boys could speak to each other, but all they could do is try to stay together and find a way out as soon as possible. They fell down a small curve and tried to get through the smaller flames without getting burned too much, Lucas could barely use anymore PSI as he had used a lot of it already trying to stay alive.

Lucas was trying to find the river that flowed in the forest, if they could just get to the river they'll be safe from the fire and swim back to Tazmily. But it seemed the path to the river wasn't going to be easy to get to either. Lucas could hear Fuel was beginning to cough, the smoke was making it hard to breathe and see. They went under some burning wood and kept running. Suddenly a falling, burning tree was coming down from behind them, Lucas saw this and grabbed Fuel to get out of the way. When the tree fell, it caused the boys to roll over on the ground. Lucas yelped when he felt Fuel's hand slipped from his and kept going. The blond haired boy could barely yell from all the smoke, but he heard a loud SPLASH! The river must be nearby.

Lucas immediately began crawling, barely avoiding another fallen burning tree that fell where he was seconds before. The blond haired boy gulped as he kept crawling and he could see the waters of the rushing river ahead, but Fuel was nowhere in sight. Lucas knew that jumping into a running river was dangerous, but at this point he believed the forest fire was far more of a danger at this point. He almost reached the river and he prayed that Fuel was washed downstream into Tazmily. Just as he was about to crawl himself in, a bomb was thrown at him. Lucas barely had any time to react before it exploded.

"WAAAAAAH!" Lucas yelled in pain as he was thrown from the force of the explosion. He had managed to put up a quick PK Shield to protect him from the brunt of the explosion, but now he was dizzy and weak as he fell into the river.

Lucas was underwater and he struggled to swim up to the surface to breathe. He had to get above the water or he'd drown. The blond haired boy managed to get his head out of the water and gulp in some needed breaths, but the rapids were moving fast and he could barely keep up. The rapids threw his body across the rocks and flipped him around underwater again. Lucas could hardly tell which way was up or down as he kept trying to swim back to the surface. Some of the woods fell into the water too, the flames going out the second they touched water, they made it even harder for the poor boy to swim around.

Lucas managed to get his head above water again, he started choking out some of the water that got into his lungs. It was getting harder and harder to stay above water, his body was exhausted, his mind was tired, the only thing that kept him going was his adrenaline at this point. The blond haired boy wasn't even sure he's going to make it, his body kept being thrown around like a rag doll in the rapids and he could barely keep his head above water long enough to breathe without getting more water into his lungs in the process.

 _I hope Fuel managed to survive… Dad… Boney… Claus… I'm sorry…_ Lucas thought to himself as he was forced back down underwater before he could choke out the water in his lungs.

Suddenly Lucas felt strong and firm hands grab his flailing arms, before he knew it something or someone pulled him out of the water. The boy was set to the ground gently and the person began patting his back causing him to cough out the water in his lungs. The boy kept coughing and could hardly breathe, he almost panicked before he felt the hands that pulled him out of the river gently held him. Lucas managed to suck in the much needed air and panted tiredly.

When he managed to get his bearings, Lucas feared he had just been captured by the Pigmasks that were burning down the forest. The people in the Pigmask uniform surrounded him. Lucas felt himself passing out and there was nothing he could do about it. With effort, he looked back to see someone with a helmet that covered all of his upper face with a uniform different from the other Pigmasks. This… masked person was still as he kept holding onto Lucas like a precious item. The blond haired boy couldn't stay conscious for long and he closed his eyes and the cold grip of unconsciousness held him.

 _Just like that, I was caught. What are they going to do with me? I never even got to see the morning sun..._

* * *

 **Okay, maybe I'm a little obsessed with the whole morning sun thing, but considering Hinawa really loves sunflowers I think it's quite fitting. And this whole scene with Lucas and Fuel escaping the fire is more dramatic with the right kind of music. I used the 'To Die For' track from Lion King to help set the mood while writing out this scene. And in the next chapter, which is a Claus chapter, will show when, why and how Claus got there and managed to save his brother from drowning. This chapter is Lucas's point of view so for now we're clueless as to what Claus is doing there as the Masked Man. Now then... please leave a review on what you thought of this chapter, it would help keep me motivated to keep going. I am DarkFoxKit and I am eagerly waiting for DonFyre to come ba- I mean... I look forward to hearing from you!**


	9. Chapter 9: The Rescue

**DarkFoxKit: Hey readers! Yeah I didn't update on Monday, but I had a special reason for that. I was waiting for a very good friend of mine to come home from his vacation so we can do another AN together! *gestures to the curtain* … Hey… that's your cue!**

 **Donfyre: … Huh? S-sorry! I was, uh, relaxing. *hastily runs out and waves* Hiya readers! Glad to see all of yas again! c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: We all missed you Fyre! How was your vacation?**

 **Donfyre: Good, thank you very much Fox! XP I might be suffering some jetlag and stuffs though.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Sounds like you had it rough with the whole jet lag thing. *puts paw around his shoulder* Well it's good to have you back! And now we can finally post this chapter together!**

 **Donfyre: Yep! And I guess it's kinda my fault that this chapter was delayed a bit, Fox here really wanted to wait for me to post this chapter. Sorry about that. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Eh, this story's pretty much under the radar anyways. But try not to let that get you down. *smiles* Okay people, we'll let you read the chapter now. Have fun! We'll answer the reviews at the bottom.**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: The Rescue**

 _I had just started my role as the Commander of the Pigmask Army. It was awkward at best to be honest. I was not used to having such authority like this, especially to an army that didn't have much of an opinion on me before. When I walked by they would immediately salute and call me sir. It felt both scary and pitiful how even the Colonel are listening to a 12 year old boy like loyal dogs. I wasn't sure if I liked being a Commander and it was only two days since my promotion. Fassad said I'll get used to it but I'm not sure if I would. Today I had to fill out some paper work from the latest colony and I knew I wouldn't be home at my usual time, so I sent a carrier pigeon to let Dad and Lucas know I'll be home late tonight so they won't freak out. Little did I know that something bad was going to happen._

* * *

Claus had his helmet sitting on the corner of his desk as he was filling out the paper work. It's only been two days since his promotion to Commander and already the paper work was stacking up and driving him crazy. There were a lot of things he had to report, like the colony in each continent, how much they've progressed, where the new colony will be stationed, what squad to bring and any chances of raiders, new recruitment and trainees. Claus sighed as he was only halfway done with this monstrous stack of reports since he sent his letter to his home.

There was a knock on his door and Claus looked up. "Come in."

The door opened and a familiar Colonel Pigmask walked in. He gave a salute. "Commander sir! I have some reports to give."

"At ease Colonel. What is it?" Claus tiredly asked.

"There are some strange reports saying that some of our crew is in the forest near Tazmily." The Pigmask Colonel stated. "It's strange because nobody's issue a command to go to Tazmily."

This caught the young Commander's attention. "What are they doing there?"

"The witnesses say that the group is demanding and threatening the people of Tazmily." The Pigmask Colonel explained.

Claus frowned to himself. "Was anyone in the army seen leaving suddenly?"

"Not that we know of, sir." The Colonel answered.

"Hmm… Did you tell Fassad about this?" Claus asked.

"A Pigmask Major is going to tell him, sir. I just figured since you live there you'd want to know." The white Pigmask answered.

"Thank you for your notification, Colonel." Claus said. "I'll be sure to look into it and see if it's anything serious. You are dismissed."

"Yes Commander." Colonel said before saluting and walking out of the room.

* * *

The young 12 year old Commander sighed as he stacked the reports he had been working on together. He wanted to get it all done before tonight, but he couldn't just ignore the possible threat of Tazmily. If there really were Pigmasks in there threatening people that would tarnish the Pigmask Army's name, not to mention it could put people in danger.

 _Maybe I should see Fassad about this. Maybe Master Porky might know what's going on._ Claus thought to himself. _I hope Lucas, Dad and Boney are doing alright._

With that thought in mind, the orange haired boy put down the papers and picked up his helmet. Claus walked out into the hallway while carrying his helmet under his arm. Some of the Pigmasks that were in the hallway immediately oinked frantically before standing straight and saluting him. Claus felt uneasy with that and kept looking forward as if pretending not to notice. The boy looked at the helmet under his arm and was tempted to put it on his face just to hide most of it.

Claus soon came into the training room and saw some of the new recruits being trained by Pigmask Captains as they're usually the ones who handle the new trainees. The boy began walking passed them when one of the younger teenage looking recruit spoke up.

"Hey, what's this kid doing here? Did he get lost or something?" The teen snickered, pointing at Claus like he was some lost child.

The Pigmask Captain that was training this teenager was immediately frantic. "How DARE you speak to the Commander that way! You better show him respect!"

"Commander? … _That_ little munchkin? THAT'S our Commander?" The teen frowned and looked at Claus skeptically.

Claus gave the teen an annoyed look and the Pigmask Captain immediately began bowing and apologizing. "I'm so sorry about his rudeness! I'll be sure to set him straight, sir!" He quickly pushed a button on a handheld device, shocking the teenager as he was wearing the shock collar like all new recruits.

Claus didn't answer and just continued his way to the back of the training room where Fassad usually is. The boy did his best to ignore the skeptic looks of the new recruits and the insane respect the more higher ranks give him.

"Ah, there's my favorite Commander!" Fassad said joyfully when he saw Claus.

"Fassad, I'm the only other Commander here besides you." Claus said to him. "And I've only started two days ago. I haven't done anything to prove I'm a good Commander yet."

"Still my favorite!" Fassad just replied heartily. "Now what do you need right now? Weren't you busy?"

Claus sighed, recalling what the Pigmask had just told him. "There's apparently some kind of renegade group of Pigmasks reported to be terrorizing Tazmily."

Fassad's mood dimmed a little as he frowned. "Yes, I've heard just before you came, but it doesn't seem like anyone in the army is aware of it. I was actually just wondering about you, maybe you could go and investigate the problem? It may be a good first field assignment as your new position."

"Do you think this group of Pigmasks are a significant threat?" Claus asked.

"I wouldn't think so right now… Still, it'll be good for you to test your leadership as a Commander!" Fassad said a little more enthusiastically. "Just go down there with a portion of the army and see what's making all this ruckus."

Claus nodded before saluting. "I'll do my best. I'll gather information and assess the possible threat of this group."

"I'll leave it up to you then. You do remember how to get to Tazmily from here, don't you?" Fassad asked. "It's a little far so you might want to take the Pork Bean to get there faster."

"I know how to get there by now. I'll get the Colonel to drive the Pork Bean there." Claus said before leaving the room.

* * *

 _It was pretty easy to gather the needed army. Everyone here was more than eager to prove their worth, mostly the lower ranks so they can get a promotion. I guess they're also wondering how I would do out in the field as the Commander. I asked the Colonel who's helped me since the beginning to drive the Pork Bean- The Pork Bean is a vehicle the Pigmask uses, it's mostly spherical and it can float, it can travel pretty fast too- I trusted him the most out of the other Colonels. While the Pork Bean is a fast form of transportation I couldn't help but feel like it's still taking too long to get to Tazmily. Something was nagging at me and I felt more and more uneasy._

Claus had his helmet on as he looked out the window. The Pork Bean uses an underground tube to get to the village undetected. It was ingenious, the tube leading them silently over to the graveyard of Tazmily. As they were nearing the village, the boy noticed something was off. It was already getting dark and yet there was a strange bright red light when they were near the forest area of Tazmily.

"What the…?" Claus said to himself. _What could be causing that light…? Could it…?_

"Is something wrong, sir?" A Pigmask Major asked Claus.

Claus turned to the Major, forcing on a commanding face. "Speed up the Pork Bean, I think something's wrong…"

"Yes sir!" The Pigmask Colonel driving at the front said, speeding up and the light getting larger and more noticeable outside.

They soon came to a cavern and couldn't see the light anymore. When the Pork Bean stopped and parked, Claus hurried out of it and climbed the ladder that lead out into Tazmily's graveyard. There he saw a lot of people gathering around the village. Before Claus could think of going over and asking what the heck is going on, there was a loud explosion and caused the place to tremble a little bit. The Pigmasks behind him squealed when they felt the tremor while climbing up the ladder.

"Wh-what was that!?" A low rank Pigmask yelped.

"Sounds like someone just set off a bomb or something." A Pigmask Captain replied.

Claus gritted his teeth, he had a really bad feeling. "Something's going on here. Pigmasks, we need to gather intel, _now_!"

"Y-yes sir!" the Pigmasks said, dispersing around, some going in the direction of the forest to gather info, while others went to the nearby people of Tazmily to ask what was going on. The citizens didn't seem very happy to see more Pigmasks arriving.

Claus was assessing the situation as the Pigmasks went off. Soon one of the Pigmasks returned to him.

"S-sir!" the Pigmask said, saluting. "The people in Tazmily… they weren't very happy to see us… They claimed that _we_ were the problem that began this whole thing. They said something about- um… being interrogated and that the renegade group threatened to burn down Tazmily."

The young Commander frowned at this. "Burn down Tazmily?"

That's when he saw Kumatora, that girl who was always training Lucas. She just brought in Lighter who looked a bit sick. She gently laid him down. Claus frowned at this before he walked over to her, making sure his helmet kept his face covered.

"Excuse me miss. Could you tell me what happened?" Claus asked politely.

"You!" she snapped, looking furiously at Claus. He could see massive sparks emit from her hand, but it looked like she was having a hard time unleashing her fury on him. "Are _you_ commanding these Pigmasks?!"

Claus tried to keep a stable emotion. "Yes, I am. What happened here?"

"What happened?!" Kumatora exclaimed, as if she couldn't believe that Claus didn't even know the situation. "You should know what happened, your dang Pigmasks destroying the forest and threatening everyone. If half of Tazmily wasn't watching, I'd PK Fire right in your-!"

"Sir!" a Pigmask from the forest interrupted. Good thing too, since Claus was worried that Kumatora might have tried to blast him away considering how angry she looked. "We found out the source of the light coming from, there's a huge forest fire deeper in the forest, but it's spreading at an alarming rate. At this point, it may completely burn the entire forest or reach Tazmily!"

"What? What's causing this forest fire?" Claus demanded.

"We're not who sure sir, but it's no accident! There have been bombs going off that is setting the forest on fire!" The Pigmask said.

"YOU'RE the ones who were bombing the forest! You wanted me and Lucas because we can use PSI!" Kumatora snapped. "Don't act like you don't know!"

Claus gasped. "Lucas? Where's Lucas?"

"That's none of your business! But for all we know he could be burning alive in the forest because of you and your dang Pigmasks!" The pink haired woman snapped.

 _L-Lucas!_ Claus thought in dismay, immediately wanting to go to his aid. While Kumatora was ranting more at the other Pigmasks, Claus gathered the Pigmask Colonel and Majors to him, issuing orders. "Relay this to the other Pigmasks: Our new priority is to enter the forest and save anyone who could be in danger. And while we're at it, we need to do the most we can to hinder or prevent the spread of the fire."

"Yes sir!" the Pigmasks saluted, heading off to tell Claus's orders to the other low-ranking Pigmasks. The boy crossed his arms and tapped his arm impatiently, worried for Lucas. Pretty soon, they had all gathered where Claus was as he stood near the forest.

"Alright everyone, we've got no time to lose. The fire is spreading at an alarming rate. Take what you can to help put it out, get to the river if you need a water supply. The Majors and the Colonel will help search for survivors. Let's move now!" Claus quickly said.

The Pigmasks all oinked and saluted before they hurried towards the forest.

* * *

Claus was running as fast as his feet could carry him, wishing he could go faster. The forest wasn't far and neither was the fire. The flames were big and hot, the smoke was getting thick. By the time they got into the forest, Claus was surprised anything could even breathe in here, it was so hot and smokey. This made him worry even more for his brother.

 _Come on Lucas, where are you?_ The ginger boy knew he had to calm himself down. He remembered Fassad telling him that he could sense his brother's PSI if he had to. Using his helmet, he mentally told it to scan for any nearby PSI. _Come on, come on… please be alive Lucas…_

Claus frantically looked around the forest, he still couldn't pick up any PSI signature. The boy saw the other Pigmasks spreading around the forest, trying to find any survivors or using their weapons to try and slow down the fire. The boy kept running around the forest, frantically trying to get a signal on Lucas.

The ginger boy didn't get a PSI signal until he was deeper into the forest, where the fire was even stronger and the smoke was thicker. Claus had to cover his nose and mouth because it was hardly breathable here. The signal was weak but it was there. _Hang in there Lucas I'm coming!_

Claus followed the signal. There was fire everywhere, and he couldn't go too far because the flames were unbearably hot, but that didn't stop him. Claus used his PK Freeze to shoot at the fire, calming down the wild raging flames to a more manageable portion. This made it easier for him to run through the weakened flames. "PK FREEZE!" The PSI Freeze was in the Beta stage, it was strong enough to cool down a lot of the fire that was in his way.

 _Come on Lucas… you've gotta be close by…_ Claus hurried and stopped when he saw a bunch of burning fallen trees over his path. Gritting his teeth, Claus shot the trees with his PSI Cannon, easily blasting them out of his way. Running down the hill he saw a running river up ahead. His helmet was pointing all signs at the river.

"Oh no… Lucas…" The young Commander saw the ground looked charcoal black and a huge crater was left. The boy could already deduced that someone threw a bomb here, most likely at his brother.

Claus immediately ran down the stream, running past some of the Pigmasks using the river to put out the fire. The Colonel saw Claus frantically running down stream. "What's wrong Commander?"

"Find Lucas! He must be somewhere in the river!" Claus immediately said urgently.

The young Commander didn't bother to see if the Colonel was following him or not, he just knew he had to find Lucas in the river. Claus was using his helmet to help him find Lucas's PSI signature, it was weak but still there. The boy kept running downstream as fast as his legs could carry him and he was pretty fast with all that training he did. Claus didn't stop until he saw his brother's head coming out of the river, choking on water and struggling to stay above the rapids. Claus's heart began beating faster as he came closer to the edge of the river.

"Careful Commander! You might fall in too!" Claus heard the Colonel behind him, and there were a few other Pigmasks running alongside him.

"Grab on to me, we need to get my brother out before he drowns!" Claus immediately commanded.

Not needing to be told twice, the Pigmasks formed a human chain to let their Commander reach out further into the water. Lucas was sinking back underwater, Claus could see his arms flailing about and he quickly reached out and grabbed them. "I got him! Pull us out!"

The Pigmasks pulled the two boys out of the water. Claus gently set Lucas down on the ground as the other boy began choking out water from his lungs. The young Commander began patting his back to help his brother let out all the water from his lungs. Claus could see Lucas was in a state of panic and was having trouble breathing, he worried that Lucas would suffocate himself before he remembered what would always calm his brother down before; when their mother held him. Claus, not caring that he's the Commander at the moment, gently hugged his brother. After another long second or two, his brother finally began sucking in the needed air, making Claus relieved.

As Lucas was panting tiredly from that, he began looking around. Claus could see how tired his brother was as he could barely keep his eyes open. The ginger boy could only imagine how much strain Lucas was in trying to escape the fiery forest with his assist PSI. The blond haired boy slowly and weakly turned around, seeing Claus for the first time in his Commander uniform and the helmet covering the upper half of his face. Even though Lucas was looking right at him, Claus doubted Lucas even knew who he was with the helmet on. And Lucas soon closed his eyes and went limp in his arms.

* * *

Concerned, Claus scanned his brother's body with the helmet and was relieved that he was alive he had only passed out and the young Commander honestly didn't blame him. Looking up, he saw the Pigmasks all looking at him in concern, at least he assumed they did, it's a little hard to tell with those masks on. "Pigmasks, what's the status on the forest?"

The Colonel immediately spoke up, "We are doing everything we can to put out the fire. Some of the villagers are helping out and it's been going pretty good, the fire is being slowed and the bombs have stopped sir."

"That's good." Claus said in relief.

"But the villagers seem to be uneasy around us. Many of them claim it's our fault the forest is on fire in the first place." The Pigmask Colonel said.

Claus frowned at this. _Kumatora kept accusing it was my fault too._ "Then we must come to the conclusion those other Pigmasks that were here are frauds and they're doing everything they can to make us look bad. Maybe they're trying to push the villagers to believe we're the enemy." _Kumatora also mentioned they were looking for PSI users… I wonder why…_

A Pigmask Captain came running up and quickly saluted, "C-Commander sir! My group had found and rescued a young boy about your age washed up from the river, he appears to be unconscious sir but he's alive!"

This caught Claus's attention. "What does the boy look like?"

"He has brown hair, wears a white shirt with red sleeves." The Pigmask Captain said.

 _That sounds like Fuel… What was Fuel doing in the river?_ "Make sure he's okay and check for if anymore stragglers are around here." Claus said.

"Yes sir!"

* * *

 _I didn't know how long we've been here. It felt like days to be honest, but the morning sun hasn't risen yet so I can only assume it's been several hours. Everyone was working hard to put out the fire. After I got my brother back home and let him rest in his bed I had to go back out to help put out the fire. I remember seeing Dad and Boney looking shocked to see me, it was obvious neither of them recognized me. Dad didn't because of the helmet and Boney didn't recognize my smell due to the chemicals this uniform and helmet had. Fassad made it specifically so nobody could track me so easily. I hurried out of the house, not wanting to cause trouble and let them take care of my brother while I helped with the fire. My PK Freeze was doing an excellent job of putting out a lot of the fire, but I could only use it so much before I get too tired to use anymore PSI. Thankfully this didn't become an issue as storm clouds began to form. This wasn't some coincidence, I had ordered the Pigmask Majors to bring in the weather machine. It's amazing how advanced Master Porky's technology is, and how helpful they can be. We let the rain help put out the fire and before we knew it the forest was now drenched and not a single flame was left._

 _Of course, even with the fire gone, the damage was already done. Many of the trees and plantlife were burned down. A lot of animals and chimeras lost. Thankfully there weren't anymore humans in the forest, it seemed it was only Lucas and Fuel that were in the forest. But the worst thing was the people in Tazmily had lost most of their trust in us due to those phony Pigmasks. As the Commander, I had tried to speak up and tell them we knew nothing of this and it wasn't our fault, but Kumatora pointed out that since they're part of the Pigmask Army then it's our responsibility whether we knew it or not. I'm really starting to dislike that woman. As Claus I could argue and bicker with her all I want, but as the Commander I had to be the bigger person and calmly let it go. I ordered all the Pigmasks with me to get back to base, it was clear we were unwanted here right now._

* * *

"It seems those phony Pigmasks did more damage than we thought they would." Fassad said grimly when Claus told him what happened.

The boy had his helmet on the desk as they spoke in his room. "What were they trying to do exactly? It seemed like they're trying to tarnish our good name while searching for PSI users."

"I don't know." Fassad frowned.

"Could they be the traitors who tried to invade this base before or raided our colonies?" The younger Commander asked.

The Magypsy sighed before he said, "It's highly likely yes, but none of the traitors ever wore the uniform before. When they left us, they swore to never wear those uniforms again and most likely burn the ones they had before."

"And why would they go through such length to burn the entire forest like that? If they had killed the very PSI users they were after wouldn't that be counter productive?" Claus asked and frowned in confusion. "It just doesn't make any sense."

"Well some people just don't think, maybe they were too aggressive to listen to reason. Either way we better mark them as dangerous." Fassad said gravely. "I'll let Master Porky know about what had transpired."

"But how would we know if those among us isn't some spy?" Claus asked, obviously troubled about this. "How would we know who's genuine and who's the fraud?"

"Calm yourself Commander Claus, we need to have clear heads for this." Fassad said calmly to the distress 12 year old boy. "Maybe I can have Dr. Andonuts create a bug for everyone's uniform here to make sure they're genuine."

Claus sighed before he said, "I'm sorry Fassad. I guess I'm just a little shaken up. They attacked my home town and… I could've lost Lucas. What if I had been too late? Tazmily could've burned down and I could've lost my brother."

"Try not to think that way. It didn't happen, that's the important thing." Fassad reassured him.

"The enemy can fly, they can cover great distance by themselves in a matter of seconds what would take us hours to get to." Claus said with a sigh. "We can only go so fast. If only we could fly too…"

"Dr. Andonuts hadn't worked on any personal flying machines since his jetpack prototype blueprints were stolen by the traitors." Fassad said. "But I do agree that they have the advantage over us because of it. And a faster way to travel would be recommended in case something happens again."

"Well… I'll let you and Dr. Andonuts handle that." Claus sighed before he yawned. "I better get back home. I'm sure after the whole forest fire fiasco my family's worried sick about me again. And I need to see how much of a plunge our reputation had taken as Claus and not as the Commander."

Fassad nodded, "I understand. We're all going to need some time to recover from today's incident. I'll talk to Master Porky about this and see if Dr. Andonuts can make something that can help us."

The young boy nodded before he stood up. "I'll be going back to Tazmily now."

* * *

 _After I took off my Commander uniform and was back in my casual striped shirt and red shorts, putting away my helmet and putting on the bracelet that suppresses my PSI, the Colonel drove me back to Tazmily in the Pork Bean. As usual I thanked him before heading out. It was still dark, to which I can only assume it was midnight or a little bit past it. I decided to walk slowly out of the graveyard, afraid of what I'll find once I get into the village._

Claus came into the center of town, seeing a lot of people out and about despite the late hour. It was clear everyone was shaken up from the forest fire incident. The boy could hear people murmuring to each other about how the Pigmasks almost killed them with their little stunt, making Claus cringe. It was at this point the boy was glad he kept his life in the Pigmask Army a secret.

"Claus! Hey Claus!" The boy stopped when he heard someone calling to him. It was a young girl almost about his age. "Where have you been? You missed the big forest fire!"

"Oh… I didn't miss it, you just didn't see me there." Claus said casually.

"Oh wow, really? You must be pretty good at hiding then! But did you hear? Everyone says the Pigmasks caused the forest fire with their explosion!" The girl said, almost excitedly.

"Y-yeah, it's pretty hard to miss." Claus said with a small frown.

The girl looked like she was going to say something else when she heard her parents calling for her. "Aww, guess I gotta go. See you later Claus!"

With a wave, she hurried away. Claus sighed before walking through the village again, heading for his home. The boy first decided to check up on how Fuel and Lighter were doing, they were apparently in the forest when it began to burn. The ginger boy walked into the Inn, where he talked to the reception. "Um… excuse me, is Mr. Lighter here?"

"Hmm? Oh it's you Claus. Ah well Mr. Lighter and his son are indeed here. Why do you want to see them?" The woman asked.

"I just want to know if they're okay. I heard they were in the forest when it was on fire." Claus said.

"Ah. Well you'll be happy to know the two are just fine. Their bodies are a little injured but they are otherwise okay." The woman answered.

"Oh, that's good. Thanks, that's all I wanted to know." Claus said before he left the inn. While he did wanted to see for himself they were okay, he wanted to get home soon because he was tired himself.

The boy was on the outskirts of his house and approaching, glad to see his house so close and could hardly wait to lay in bed. But when he was on his way, Kumatora was walking past him before she stopped and looked at him when she noticed he was there. Claus froze when she saw him.

"..." Kumatora didn't say anything for a long while and was staring at him as if she was studying him.

Claus stood there uneasy and tense, he had his bracelet on so she couldn't be sensing his PSI, and he's sure he wasn't wearing anything that would point to him being the Commander of the Pigmask Army, so what was she looking at? Was she trying to read his mind?

"You…" She said and almost made Claus jump. "You're Claus, right?"

"Uh… y-yes ma'am?" Claus frowned and looked at her nervously.

"Where were you during the forest fire incident?" She asked him. "Lucas and Flint had been worried about you, even the dog kept asking if you were okay."

"I was… out…" Claus said hesitantly. "I was in the mountains and I couldn't get back with the forest being on fire. But now that it's out I could come home again."

Kumatora put her hands on her hips and looked at him with an 'I'm not impressed' look, making the 12 year old boy even more nervous. "And just what were you doing in the mountains all by yourself?"

"... Looking for stuff…" Claus said pathetically, knowing that was a stupid excuse, but it's not like he knew he'd be interrogated on the spot like this.

"Just… stuff?" Kumatora asked, frowning at the boy. She looked like she was conflicted about something while she frowned at him, but Claus wasn't sure why she looked so suspicious about him. "And what kind of 'stuff' were you looking for?"

"I was…" Claus was wracking his brain to think of a plausible excuse. "... Looking for clues! Y-you know… for how to defeat a chimera in case we get attacked by one again…" He had to clear his throat to make sure it didn't sound like a question.

"..." Kumatora didn't look like she wanted to buy it, squinting at Claus as if trying to get the truth out of him. Claus felt even more nervous at this. Kumatora was highly advanced in using PSI… could she use it to read his mind? Was she seeing what really went on during the forest fire?

"You know… it's considered rude to stare. If you're not careful someone could mistake you for a pedophile." Claus said rather quickly, hoping this would keep her distracted enough to stop her from possibly reading his mind.

At this, Kumatora immediately stopped her gaze and looked at Claus irritably. "What?! I am NOT a…!" She looked like she wanted to go at him even more just for saying that, but tried to calm herself down. Claus could feel that she was still a little angry though. "Look… I just find it a little strange that you were out so late and just calmly came back as if nothing ever happened. Lucas was looking for you, y'know."

"O-oh sorry…" Claus then got an idea and gave a sigh of defeat. "Okay… to tell you the truth… I am… jealous of my brother. He had always been the better one out of the two of us… I mean everyone likes his kind and gentle nature and he's just got that atmosphere around him that you want to be nice to him. Lucas always took after our kind and sweet mother… and now he has this super special PSI and is training with other highly advanced PSI users. I just felt so… pathetic and useless… I hate feeling like that… so I've been sneaking off to the mountains to try and train. Maybe I could use PSI too, or at least get physically stronger you know… I just didn't want to worry my family."

Kumatora seemed a little taken aback by the response, the initial irritation on her face being replaced by a tiny bit of sympathy. "O-oh, is that it?" She seemed to think about this for a few moments, not concentrating anymore on staring at Claus for the truth. "I guess I understand what you mean, and I like how you took it upon yourself to make yourself stronger. I know most would just sit on their lazy butts and do nothing about it in your situation."

Claus almost sighed in relief that she bought it, but he held himself. Although most of it was the truth anyway, at least before he awakened his PSI. Even after he is technically training. "Yeah… just don't tell my Dad or Lucas, I don't want them to worry about me. I'm sorry for troubling you, Kumatora."

At this, the pink haired PSI user was a bit surprised. She had only spoken to Claus a few times before but she had known the boy to be impatient and hasty, and the way he talks was no different. Now it seemed like he's suddenly acting polite, which was unusual for her. She wondered if there was something else, or if he really had changed ever since Lucas had awoken his PSI.

"... Alright kid, I won't tell." Kumatora said, smiling just a little bit. "You take care of your brother though. While he may have all this new PSI stuff, he's still your timid little brother, and he always still worries about you."

"That's just like my brother." Claus chuckled before his training instincts made him think. _Hmm… I better make sure I have the act down just right. Can't have her suspicious of me once she has time to think._ "By the way Kumatora… um… this is rather embarrassing but… could you tell if I maybe have PSI too? Like maybe it's still dormant. I mean Lucas and I are twins, so shouldn't both of us be able to use it?"

Kumatora frowned a little at the question. "No one really knows why someone is able to use PSI and why some aren't. Lucas, I could tell since he was emitting an aura that all PSI users can sense. You though… sorry, but I can't really sense any trace of PSI within you…" She looked like she wanted to say something else too, but held herself back.

Claus gave his best disappointment look, but inwardly he was relieved to know the bracelet Dr. Andonuts gave him was working. "Oh… okay… thanks anyway. I should get home, I'm tired."

"Oh, right, yeah. You should do that, Lucas will be really happy to see you." Kumatora said. "Like I said, take care of Lucas. He still needs you as much as he did before he had PSI." With that, Kumatora headed back on her way to wherever she was headed.

* * *

With her gone, Claus gave a sigh of relief. _Whew… I can't believe I pulled that off. I really need to be more careful from now on… I wonder if this bracelet is also able to block off PSI users from reading my mind. Dr. Andonuts really thought of everything._

Claus was on his doorsteps and Boney barked, wagging his tail happily. _"Claus! I was so worried about you! You're here! You're safe!"_

Boney ran up to the boy and licked his face. Claus laughed as he patted the happy dog, "I'm happy to see you too boy! Calm down now, I have to let Dad and Lucas know I'm here too."

After getting Boney to settle down, the ginger haired boy knocked on the door and it didn't take long for Flint to answer it. The man froze for a few seconds when he saw Claus standing there. "Hey Dad, sounds like I missed out on a lot of things."

"Claus, I'm glad you're safe son!" Flint said in relief as he led the boy inside.

Before Claus could speak up, a certain blond haired boy came charging at him and had him in a death hug. "Wah!"

"CLAUS!" Lucas exclaimed. " _There_ you are! Why did you have to be gone for so long?"

"Yes Claus, we were worried." Flint said as he tilted his hat, most likely trying to hide his face.

"S-sorry. I didn't know that there would be a forest fire when I was doing some… important errands." Claus said. "I couldn't get back because of the fire so I had to wait until it was put out."

"Important errands?" Lucas asked. "Well… as long as you're back and safe, it's alright…"

"Lucas was worried about you the entire day, Claus." Flint added. "He gets worried since you've been gone for so long every day."

Claus sighed, "I'm sorry. But I kinda took a job while you were out training, Lucas. So yeah, that's kinda why I've been gone for the whole day. I was working overtime for some errands for my boss."

"And why did you never tell us this?" Flint asked.

"I… was ashamed… to say anything." Claus grumbled, acting embarrassed about it. "B-but hey, I didn't get hurt and neither did anyone else. So what caused that fire? Some careless campers let their camp fire burn all night or something?" The boy asked this to analyze their reaction to the Pigmasks.

"Oh, that…" Lucas said, giving a sad look as he remembered the event. "I already told Dad about it. There were some Pigmasks in the forest threatening people, and they even tried to kidnap me and Kumatora. When we ran away, they set off bombs… Fuel was there too, but I think he's okay. I only just managed to get out, and ended up in the river, but…" At this, Lucas frowned. "I think someone saved me. I didn't really recognize or remember much about the person though… And there were Pigmasks with the person too. I thought they would capture me, but I only remember waking up in my bed right after."

Claus had to hide a smile creeping on his face. "The Pigmasks? Oh, so they saved you. I'm relieved, maybe you'll see they're not so bad after all, right? I mean the person is obviously with the Pigmasks if they were all there, right?" The boy asked his twin brother hopefully.

"We have mixed feelings about them." Flint said. "Lucas claimed to have seen the Pigmasks bombing the forest in the first place and wanted to capture him and Kumatora."

"... But they saved you didn't they? Maybe the Pigmasks you saw were different?" Claus said, hoping to save some grace for the army he is commanding.

"You think so? They all seem the same to me…" Lucas said, thinking to himself. "Maybe they were… or maybe someone else saved me when those Pigmasks captured me."

Flint sighed and said, "We don't know what's going on. Maybe there's a rebellion among those Pigmasks, but all I know is my two boys are safe and that's all I care about. Are you hungry, Claus? Lucas and I just had dinner."

Claus shook his head, "I'm good. I ate before I got home. And I'm tired so I rather just head on to bed now."

Flint nodded, "Alright, you two boys head on to bed. You both had a long day."

Lucas all but dragged Claus to their room. Claus blinked in surprise at this, "Whoa Lucas, what's the hurry?"

"Nothing, I was just… worried for you." Lucas said with a frown. "Listen… I told Kumatora I don't want to train as much anymore."

"What? Why?" Claus asked, surprised by this.

"Because… I didn't like that we weren't spending as much time together as we used to." Lucas said quietly.

"O-oh… you didn't have to do that, Lucas, I'm doing fine on my own now. You should keep focusing on that PSI of yours." Claus said. It's not like he didn't want to spend time with Lucas, but he wasn't sure what would happen if he suddenly stopped showing up to the Pigmask army to spend more time with him.

"I just feel bad. Now you even got a job to cope with this." Lucas frowned as he and Claus began changing into their pajamas. "Besides, I'm not sure what more I can learn. Except for PK Love and possibly PK Flash, all my PSI are assist type. They're good for healing and shielding during battle, but they're not anything to be used offensively. I wish you can use PSI Claus, I think you might have all the offensive PSI."

"Oh, uh, you think so?" Claus asked, a little surprised at the irony that he _could_ use that exact type of PSI. "Yeah… I think that would've been cool." he said, trying to sound like the idea wasn't possible.

"Then maybe we could've trained together. Oh well… I guess we could always dream. Who knows? Maybe one day you'll wake up with PSI fever and I can be your mentor. We are twins after all, I don't see why you _can't_ use it too. But I'm done with training, I think I'll just stay home and help Dad around the house for a bit while you go to your job." Lucas said as he yawned and began crawling into bed.

"Maybe…" Claus simply said, also climbing into his bed. "And sometimes I might be a busy with my, um, job, so just don't worry so much if I come home a little late, okay?"

"M'kay." Lucas said sleepily. "I'm just glad you're okay Claus. I was worried you might've been stuck in that forest fire. I'm glad that Fuel's doing okay, it scared me when he fell into the river." He began closing his eyes and curled up next to his brother. "I don't… want to… lose you… too… Claus…"

Claus paused and sighed, "You won't lose me so easily, Lucas. I just hope I won't lose you." The older twin played with his brother's hair, which always helped Lucas fall asleep. It wasn't long before the blond haired twin began snoozing away.

Claus turned over and let his brother rest his head on his back. Lucas never admitted it but Claus knew he liked having him nearby whenever they wake up in the morning. "Good night Lucas… I'm glad you didn't drown in that river. I promise I'll do better to protect this village." Claus said quietly to nobody in particular before he closed his eyes and fell into a deep and peaceful slumber.

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: Yeah, the last chapter was in Lucas's point of view, and this one was with Claus during that time with the forest fire. We also added in scenes after the fire where he talked with Kumatora.**

 **Donfyre: It was pretty fun making this chapter in Claus's POV, and you learned some new things about what happened during that time too. XP Who knoooows who could have started that forest fire? Anyways, reviews Fox?**

 **DarkFoxKit: Alright… first...**

 **Connor the speling pro: Yeah, the morning sun thing really does work.**

 **Constructive criticism will hopefully make us better writers in the future. As I've said before though; I wasn't sure what to do with Lucas at the time, so he'll be pretty generic for a while, but I assure you that he'll be a more interesting character soon.**

 **Donfyre: Yeah, he's gonna have a lot more personality pretty soon. But thanks for the heads up for these first few chapters with Lucas! Now next up…**

 **Calm: Thanks! And nice to know you're so excited for things to come. :3 And… Kat Woman and Bonfire? Those are, uh… interesting nicknames. ^^; Oh, and thankees for that art you drew too! It really made my day.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yeah, Fyre here wanted to be acknowledged and you certainly made his day shine when you showed us your picture of him! :)**

 **Guest: I'm glad you like it And my chapter schedule is usually on Mondays.**

 **Donfyre: Except for, y'know, today. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Hey, I can make exceptions. *pouts* Anyways, that's all we have so… Fyre, do you have anything else you want to add before we leave?**

 **Donfyre: You ask that question a lot, and I usually don't have an answer. ^^; Buuuut… nope, I got nothin'. *falls backwards***

 **DarkFoxKit: Alright. Well Fyre and I will be eagerly waiting for your comments! :) I am DarkFoxKit, this is Donfyre and we both look forward to hearing from you!**


	10. Chapter 10: Planning

**DarkFoxKit: This feels a little early since I updated the last chapter two days from the original update date. But the last chapter was the end of 'arc 1' I guess you could call it. And that seem to have caused some… confusion among readers. ^^' And uh… Fyre here is a little… tipsy right now.**

 **Donfyre: Oh shush you! … Wait, where are you? *is stumbling and swerving around* S-sorry readers… but right now, aka late in the night when my head is tired, is NOT the best time for me to feel very clear right now! DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yeah, we kinda forgot that we were supposed to do this earlier so… erm… we'll just make this quick. This is basically the beginning of 'arc 2'. You see, in 'arc 1' it was mostly about the twins growing up and going their separate ways- not literally, but in beliefs. And here in 'arc 2' it's going to show them advancing in what they're doing.**

 **Donfyre: Yeeeep! You'll be getting a lot more insight into their stuffs in this 'arc'. But we'll just let you read how it is for yourselves. :3**

 **DarkFoxKit: You guys know the drill by now. We will answer the reviews at the bottom… what _little_ reviews we have anyways.**

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Planning**

 _Since the forest fire incident that happened about a week ago the people of Tazmily have been working hard to try and regrow the plant-life that was lost. It almost reminded me of those colonies we have set out in the continents. Speaking of the colonies I've been getting tons of report from them. There were too many complaints about how they've been getting attacked or raided by the enemy, even the defense mechanism we've built in the city wasn't enough to stave off the intruders. This was getting ridiculous, the colonies are now demanding some portion of our best Pigmasks to go and keep an eye on them, but we were already spreading ourselves thin. And with more and more colonies we've been sending out the less we could protect them. It was becoming a problem, so much so I had to discuss this with Fassad and Master Porky._

* * *

"Hmm…" Master Porky wheezed as he finished reading all the complaints from the colonies. "You're right *cough* Commander, this _is_ becoming a problem."

"We can't keep sending our best Pigmasks out like this. We're leaving ourselves vulnerable to the enemy in case they decide to invade the base or Tazmily again." Fassad said with a frown.

"But if we don't defend the colonies then we'll never have the resources to rebuild the world." Claus pointed out.

"Yes, it's a problem on both sides. *wheeze* *cough* If only there was a way to make more men, then this wouldn't be- *hack* *cough* such a problem." Porky sighed, trying not to cough so much.

"But we're already pushing the limit of people that we've recruited, Master Porky." Fassad sighed. "Even if we could get more people, the raiders could come at any time and our Pigmasks may be caught sleeping or unprepared in someway."

Claus looked at Little Miss Marshmallow and a robot that looks like Master Porky but with blond flat hair with black overalls, white shirt and a red bow tie, this little bot is called the Mecha Porky. Mecha Porky was designed to be Porky's little helpers based off of his younger self. Thinking about this, Claus got an idea.

"Master Porky, this is only a suggestion, but I figured since you have these robots that help you out with maintaining the rooms for every member of the army here, maybe we could make strong robots as bodyguards for the colonies. Think about it; they never have to sleep, they can always be ready as long as someone is there to keep them recharged." The young Commander said.

Both Porky and Fassad looked at him. Claus frowned when they stared at him and he tilted his helmet over his eyes, much like his dad does with his hat sometimes when embarrassed.

"That's… actually brilliant." Fassad said. "I'm surprised we hadn't thought of doing that."

"Robots made to defend the colonies… *wheeze*" Porky had a thoughtful expression. "Yes… I like that. *cough* We must create such robots right away if we're to have- *cough* *wheeze* any hope of rebuilding this world."

"I will let Dr. Andonuts know about this. Perhaps he and more of our scientists can come up with something." Fassad said. "Oh and speaking of the good doctor, he wants to see you once you're finished with your duties for the day, Claus."

"He does?" Claus blinked.

"Yeah, he said something about inspecting your robotic arm, to make sure it's still working properly and that he has something for you that he's been working on." The banana loving Magypsy said.

"Inspection?" Claus tried not to sound nervous here. "Oh… well uh… okay then. I guess it wouldn't do if the arm suddenly started malfunctioning."

"Very well. *wheeze* You two will let our best scientists know about the robot plan. *cough*" Porky said. "I'm counting on you to protect the colonies."

"Yes sir!" Both Claus and Fassad saluted.

On their way to Dr. Andonuts's office, Fassad asked, "Are you okay, Claus? You seem kinda nervous."

"I'm… just a little… uneasy with the whole inspection thing." Claus answered.

"Oh? Why is that? I doubt it's going to hurt and you've dealt with worse." Fassad chuckled.

The orange haired boy sighed, "It's more of the concept that makes me uneasy. I feel like I'm some machine that needs to be inspected from time to time or possibly upgraded. It just feels… _wrong_."

"Ah, I see." The Magypsy sighed. "I know it makes you feel uneasy but if your arm doesn't get inspected then there's a good chance it could malfunction. Just try not to think about it as being inspected but rather going to the doctor's for a check up."

"Actually I never had a doctor's check up before since things like the clinic was only recently made." Claus said as a matter of factly.

"... You know what I meant, stop being a smarty pants." Fassad rolled his eyes.

The 12 year old boy chuckled before he said, "I'll tell Dr. Andonuts about the idea, it'll be faster if you go ahead and tell the other scientists about it."

"I like the way you think, my favorite Commander." Fassad smiled. "I'll see you after your inspection."

"Yeah… see ya." Claus said as the Magypsy continued down the hallway and he stopped by the door that leads to Dr. Andonuts' lab.

* * *

The young Commander walked into the lab and saw Dr. Andonuts working on a new chimera. The man's a little obsessed with chimeras, he's made a lot of different kinds. This one was half snake, half mouse… basically it has a python's body with a mouse's ears, whiskers and tail at the tip.

"Dr. Andonuts?" Claus spoke up.

The short doctor jumped and turned, "Oh! Oh Commander, you surprised me! I wasn't expecting to see you here until near the end of the day."

"Well something came up and I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone. Fassad told me you wanted to inspect my arm to make sure it's still working alright, and I have to tell you something from Master Porky himself." Claus said.

"Ah, okay then." Dr. Andonuts patted the stretcher. "Come sit here and you can tell me while I get the tools ready for the inspection."

The young Commander sat on the stretcher as the doctor began gathering some tools which made Claus a bit more nervous. "So uh… Dr. Andonuts… there have been several report complaints from each of the colonies scattered across the world. They are constantly under attack from the enemy and we can only spread our army so thin. So we came up with the idea to use robots as bodyguards for them. Do you think that you and the other scientists will be able to make something that is durable, able to fight well and can be recharged easily?"

The ginger haired boy tried not to flinch away as Dr. Andonuts began sticking those wires into his semi robotic arm.

"Robot bodyguards, huh? That's a new one... I'm intrigued." Dr. Andonuts smiled excitedly, he was always ready for a new intention. He hooked up the wires around the boy's semi robotic arm and into a bigger machine.

Claus couldn't tell what that machine was doing for the life of him, but Dr. Andonuts seem to have no such troubles and was writing something down as he looked at the… stuff on the machine.

"Try turning your hand into cannon mode please." Dr. Andonuts said.

Claus easily did so, it had almost become second nature to him now. The wires were still hooked perfectly to the cannon arm. "Think you'll be able to make something like that and mass produce them? We'll need as much as we can for each and every colony out there, including the new ones that have yet to be established."

"Well it may take some time to come up with something durable, good with combat and easily rechargeable, but I'm sure we can whip something up. Mass producing them however… we may need a factory with people able to do labor work for that." Dr. Andonuts answered as he wrote down more stuff the machine was beeping to him.

"I think that'll be doable." Claus said with a nod.

Before long, Dr. Andonuts unplugged the wires as Claus shifted his cannon back into hand mode. "You're in tip top shape, Commander."

Claus sighed in relief, "That's good."

"I'll be sure to get started on the bodyguard robots. Oh and before you go…" The short doctor picked up a small gray square box looking thing. "I have a new upgrade for you."

Dr. Andonuts handed it to the young Commander, who looked at it curiously and blinked. Claus turned it sideway and tried to figure it out. "Uh… it just looks like a heavy, metal, square box thing."

The balding doctor chuckled, "Well that's all that it is, Commander, until you activate it. Like your helmet, I designed it to only work for you."

"Oh… uh… how do I activate… whatever this is?" Claus asked, feeling embarrassed that he couldn't figure out what it was.

"It's simple. The device will only react to the PSI aura you're emitting and sends signals to the chip in your brain and will attach itself to your back. Think of it like a backpack but without those cheap straps that could break off so easily. I will demonstrate." Before Claus could say anything, Dr. Andonuts placed the metal box on his back. The boy felt it against his jacket and his skin, it didn't hurt but it felt like someone was clinging on to his back.

"Now you may feel a bit uncomfortable for a while, it'll take some time to get used to it." Dr. Andonuts said. "But it'll be worth it in the long run. Now once you get it on your back your arm should automatically connect to it."

"What's that supposed to mea-" Claus was interrupted when his semi robotic arm sent out a long, black wire and attached it to the metal box clinging behind him. "Wah?"

"The wire should also still be attached to it even in cannon mode." Dr. Andonuts said as if this was no big deal, but Claus was getting more and more uneasy.

"H-hey! What is this? Some kind of fuel thing for my arm or something? This is making me look more and more like some cybernetic chimera!" Claus snapped.

"Relax, take it easy Commander." Dr. Andonuts put his hands up to calm the orange haired boy. "This was something you and Fassad had requested since the forest fire incident, I assure you this will be very beneficial."

"Great, so you hooked me up with some metal box that's leeching off of my back _and_ my mechanical arm, what's next? Some robotic eye replacement to make me look even _more_ like a mechanical chimera? Poor Dad and Lucas will have a heart attack..." Claus frowned.

"Commander, this is actually my first and only new and improved jetpack prototype since the originals were stolen. I made it so only you could use it, that way if it's stolen again it'll be useless in anyone else's hands." Dr. Andonuts explained. "With this you should be able to fly whenever you need to."

"Oh… this is a jetpack?" His anger drained and replaced by intrigueness, but the uneasiness was still there. "Must you really feel the need to make my arm hook to it?"

"Of course I do. It was the easiest way to get it in sync with your PSI and the chip in your brain. Otherwise it's just a metal box." Dr. Andonuts chuckled. "Any other way would've been much more complicated and messy, I'd imagine you wouldn't want that either."

Claus paled at how else this could've gone. "I think I'm good."

"Alright. Now to activate it, it's as easy as changing your mechanical arm to cannon mode; all you have to do is give it a mental command. Try it now." Dr. Andonuts said eagerly.

The boy sighed and nodded. Like with his arm, he tried to give the metal box on his back the command to activate. It took a few seconds before the metal box responded and a pair of black bat-like wings appeared on each of his side.

Claus looked at the new pair of wings with curiosity while Dr. Andonuts was looking at them gleefully. "Some of my best work. The wings will help you stabilize in the air much easier than the jetpacks without them. You'll be able to make fast and sharp turns much easier too."

"I guess this means I better learn how to fly then." Claus said, though he still felt uneasy about how much of a mechanical chimera he looked right now with these wings, he couldn't deny that he felt excited that he'll be able to fly.

"You can do that with Fassad's help, he's always such a good mentor." Dr. Andonuts said. "While you're getting used to your new wings I'll start on those robot blueprints."

Claus managed to get the wings to disappear back into the metal box and got off the stretcher and onto his feet. "Thank you, Dr. Andonuts, your help is always appreciated."

The young Commander has high respect for the short doctor. Dr. Andonuts had given him an arm when he lost his, gave him a new weapon to help concentrate his PSI better, gave him a helmet that helped him aim with precision and find his brother when he was drowning, and now he's given him wings to help him travel faster and gain the advantage over their jetpack using enemies.

* * *

 _After telling Fassad about my new upgrade with the wings, he was more than happy to help teach me how to fly. Unlike the PSI Cannon, it was much trickier to fly than it is to blast enemies with precise aim. The helmet could analyze things, track down PSI and help me aim, but it couldn't help me fly. I had trouble staying in the air without crashing, but thankfully the training room have soft walls and floors for this particular situation. It took me almost a month to get used to flying, and even then I still had trouble with it. By then Dr. Andonuts and the other scientists made the bodyguard robot we've been needing. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, because it wasn't made of metal, but rather hard clay. It was tall and a little deformed, in fact the only thing that made it look like a robot was a short antenna on its head that supposedly receive signals of commands. Dr. Andonuts called it the 'Clayman'._

 _The Clayman is indeed durable, that's what the clay was for, and because of that lightning can't hurt it, instead it recharges it. The Clayman is a durable and tough fighter, great for security uses as well as assist with heavy lifting. They are reusable once you use electricity to recharge them. They can emit electric discharges from their antenna too, making it the perfect weapon for those annoying raiders._

 _Master Porky announced a new factory that will go into making these Claymen from an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the wilderness of Nowhere Island. It's far east from Tazmily Village and volunteers are welcome. But because the factory is such a long way from the village, Master Porky have the Pigmasks, along with the Claymen that were already made, to build train tracks, so they can use a train to make the travel easier for the villagers._

 _The factory was built in the span of two months since the building was already there, all they had to do was bring in the needed equipment. Three months since the forest fire and I hadn't been out in the field as the Commander since, mostly due to the monstrous paper work and my flying training, but I've been itching to get back out there and see how well I can really be a Commander. I was mostly focused on saving my brother and the village to really know if I was doing well as the Commander or not on my first field mission._

* * *

Master Porky had called in the young 12 year old Commander, alone this time without Fassad. Claus, with his helmet on, bowed to the immortal old man and said, "You called for me, Master Porky?"

"Yes. *cough* *wheeze* As you know, the Clayman Factory was just finished. *wheeze* But the train tracks will still take some time. We only have a few of our lowest ranked Pigmasks- *hack* *cough* *wheeze* to bring some of the villagers who wants a job there. We'll pay them in DP- *cough* so they'll be motivated. As their Commander- *wheeze* I feel it would be best if you go there and keep an eye on things, see how well it turns out. *cough* *wheeze* And to see if there's any problem that needs fixing."

"Yes Master Porky. How long would I have to be there?" Claus asked.

"Go there- *cough* starting tomorrow for about eight hours on a daily basis for about two weeks. *wheeze* We want to make sure everything's good- *cough* and the people are motivated and happy." Porky answered.

"Yes Master Porky, I won't let you down." Claus said as he bowed again.

 _Three months since I trained with these wings, by then I've gotten down the basics of flying. So when I went out to go to the Clayman Factory I decided to test these wings and my flying skills rather than use the Pork Bean to get there._

The young Commander activated his bat-like mechanical wings. The small rockets under the pair of wings activated and took off into the sky. Claus steady himself in the air and mentally moved the wings as if they were his own, trying to get them in a comfortable angle where stabilizing isn't an issue. Claus smiled as he looked below him, it was nice being able to fly for real outside rather than in the base, no walls, no ceilings, and a lively view to look at. But Claus knew better than to get distracted, he used his helmet to help pinpoint the location of the factory so he doesn't get lost, that would be embarrassing.

 _Let's see… it should be right around… ah, there it is._ Claus smiled to himself when he saw the building out in the middle of nowhere before he flew down. Landing wasn't so bad, but he still needed more practice. He wobbled a bit as he came down before the jets shut off a bit too early and he landed on his butt. "Ow… I've GOT to learn to shut off the jets when I'm about to land on my feet…"

The boy got back on his feet and dusted himself off as his wings shrank back into the metal pack. When he approached the building he saw some of the low ranking Pigmasks walking with some of the villagers. Since the forest fire incident the Pigmasks have been working hard to get back on good terms with the people of Tazmily, most of them still don't trust them but they're willing to get a job at the factory.

Claus followed them inside the factory and watched as the Pigmask Captain at the reception signed them. When the Captain noticed the young Commander he immediately squealed and saluted. "C-Commander! I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"I was assigned by Master Porky to keep an eye on the factory for a couple of weeks, see how things work here." Claus said.

"Oh, well I hope things are in tip top shape around here." The Pigmask Captain said.

* * *

 _The factory itself was full of clay, most likely for the Claymen. There were some animals like pigs and dogs running on treadmills, they must be for the generator. Most of it was underground, so I climb down the ladder to see people working. Most of them were low ranking Pigmasks with a few villagers. Claymen were digging around for more clay. I decided to try and help out by pushing the exhausted and more deformed Claymen to the recharging room. That's where they give them an electric shock to reboot them._

 _For the two weeks that I've been coming here I noticed a lot of people looked tired and unhappy. In fact I saw a few of them constantly slacking off, not at all motivated to keep going. The DP they're being paid with isn't enough to keep them wanting to work. This could be a problem in the future once the train tracks are finished, we can't have the people slack off too much or we'll never get enough Claymen to help defend the colonies._

* * *

"So Commander- *cough* How is it?" Porky asked when Claus came back.

"Sir, the people aren't motivated to work. The DP isn't enough to keep them motivated with hard labor. Is there a way for them to stay motivated and happy after eight hours of work?" Claus asked.

"Hmm…" Porky seemed to be thinking about that. "Adults can get- *wheeze* hard to please. But I think I may be able to make something entertaining for them."

"Would you be needing my help for this new entertainment?" Claus asked.

"Well… you are becoming a great Commander, young Claus- *cough* *wheeze* but what I have in mind is for people 18 and over." Porky said. "It's going to be a club. *cough* For the workers to enjoy after a hard days of work."

"Ah, so an R&R kind of reward for their hard work to keep them motivated. Nice thinking, sir." Claus said with a chuckle. "But what about those younger than 18? I'm sure if a 12 year old can become the Commander of an army, people younger than 18 would want a job there and something to compensate for their hard work."

"You make a good point. *wheeze* Perhaps I can have a section for those under age." Porky noted.

"I'm sure that'll make everyone happy, sir." Claus said. "Where's this entertainment club going to be?"

"It's going to be built on top of the mountain for a great view, we will make a skyline for people to get there. *cough* *hack* *wheeze* And we'll call it… Club Titiboo." Porky grinned.

 _For three more months, Club Titiboo has been built along with the skyline and the tracks for the train was finished. Two and a half years had already passed since Mom's death, I've never stopped going to her grave when I can to give my respects along with my brother and father. I miss her, but at least now I have a purpose to help rebuild the world. Although I should probably keep an eye on Lucas, he's starting to get curious about my line of work now._

Claus was thinking to himself about how Lucas was constantly asking him what he's been doing. He was flying and on his way to Club Titiboo after being assigned to make sure everything's in working order and there are no safety hazards, but because he wasn't paying attention to his surrounding he didn't notice he was being followed.

Not too far from Claus were a couple of Pigmasks, they were using jetpacks to follow him. One of them pointed at Claus while the other nodded, holding up his gun. The Pigmask took aim and fired.

The helmet beeped a warning and quickly brought Claus's attention, the boy immediately swerved left, narrowly avoiding the laser that would've had a direct hit to his back. At that moment, Claus was really thankful for the wings as they let him turn so quickly.

"The Commander spotted us! Pull back!" The two Pigmasks quickly said frantically.

Claus frowned in confusion before realizing who they were, "The renegades! Hey! What are you doing here!?"

Suddenly two more Pigmasks came out of nowhere with jetpacks, they were wearing white, meaning they're of the Colonel rank. They shot their laser guns at the young Commander, who quickly dived to avoid the lasers, they cancelled each other out.

Claus didn't know what their goal was, but he can figure one thing out; they're after him. They could be the same ones who were trying to kidnap PSI users back in Tazmily and burned down the forest. But why did they choose now to go after him? Claus didn't have time to think about that right now, the four Pigmasks were flying after him and trying to shoot him down.

The young Commander knew he couldn't go to Club Titiboo with the enemy on his tail, so he had to maneuver away from there and try to lose them or chase them off. Since he wasn't good with fighting while in midair- and he hasn't really been in any battles since his promotion- he decided to try and outfly them. Claus flew down to the woods, trying to use the trees to lose them or slow them down. The Colonels were still hot on his tail, though the other two Pigmasks were having more difficulty keeping up with him.

The helmet wearing Commander quickly took notice of this. _These fraud Pigmasks must have a ranking system like ours. Which means the Colonels will be the biggest threat here._ Claus flew out of the trees and hissed when one of the lasers grazed his cheek. Looking back, the Commander knew just simply trying to fly away wouldn't do him much good, he'll have to try and fight back.

Turning around, Claus switched his mechanical arm into cannon mode and fired a PSI Cannon at the Pigmasks behind him. They squealed at the sudden fire and tried to get out of the way. The two Colonels managed to avoid most of it, but was still grazed by it as their uniforms were tearing, but the Pigmasks behind them weren't so fortunate. They squealed before falling into the lake water below with a SPLASH.

Claus yelped when the Colonels were firing at him more, they must've been pretty angry at him for ruining their uniform. Claus tried to fire his PSI Cannon again along with the helmet's help to aim, but he was having trouble aiming while in flying with fast jets, so the best he could do was graze them. He tried switching to his elemental PSI.

"PK Thunder!" He shot electricity at them since he remembered that's their biggest weakness while in the air, unfortunately that had much poorer accuracy than the cannon.

The two Colonels ganged up on him and tackled him in the sky, causing Claus to fly back a few feet before he could steady himself again. "Ow… they hit hard…"

"Give up Commander, you're coming with us!" The phony Colonels demanded.

"Don't count on it." Claus hissed back at them.

The Colonels charged at him and Claus waited until they got in close before he flew up a little and used his boots to smash both of them in the head and fired his PSI Cannon at them. The two Colonels fell for a bit but managed to move out of the way from his PSI Cannon attack. Claus had to spin and turn to avoid two more lasers being fired at him, but his wings got shot. He hissed as he was now having difficulty moving in the air due to the hole in both of his wings.

"That's it, we've got him!" One of the renegade Colonels cheered.

"Fire again!" They both fired their laser guns at him.

Claus knew he was in trouble if he didn't get rid of these two and soon. He spun around and one of the lasers hit his back. The boy's eyes widened in horror when his back began smoking, he knew they had just hit the jetpack on his back. Inwardly cursing, the boy felt his control in the sky failing and he was going down. The two Colonels were there, ready to catch him, and knock him out no doubt.

"We've got him now." They said smugly.

Claus glared as he forced off the smoking jetback from his back and concentrated. "You're not getting me that easily. PK LOVE!" He shot out the powerful blue psychic energy right at the two, exploding hexagonally right at their bodies and caused them to be shot so far back they hit the lake behind them. Claus, knowing his PK Love only temporary removed them and not actually knock them out, hurried away from the premise.

The boy used his helmet to try and find his current location. "Ugh… great, now I have to walk or take the train to get to Club Titiboo." he grumbled as he looked down at his now broken winged jetpack. "... And I'll have to get Dr. Andonuts to repair this."

 _That was the first fight I've had since my promotion six months ago. It was then I realized I couldn't just rely on my PSI and PSI Cannon for every battle. I'm going to need a weapon, something like what I used to use before. I'll have to talk to Porky or Fassad about that later once I can find my way back and not get caught by those phony Pigmasks. Who are they? What do they want? Why did they try to kidnap me? I better be more careful. I looked at my messed up winged jetpack … Guess this means I'll be taking the train for a while._

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: Admittedly Claus's chapter was originally going to be a lot shorter, I added in that fight scene to expand the chapter a bit more and to explain why he takes a train in the next chapter.**

 **Donfyre: Yeah, this is a pretty longer chapter than usual. *is glancing at the chapter* Even though the last chapter was longer than this one, we're starting to add some new things in these next few chapters. Well… sort of-ish 'new', since they're mainly just compliments from the original game - like the Clayman Factory - with our own twists!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Okay, we'll just answer these three reviews- we seriously need more than just two or three per chapter, this is not doing well for our motivation- and head on to bed!**

 **Connor the speling pro: As always, it's very nice to hear from you Connor! And I knew Kumatora would be the type who's got a short temper but is nicer than she appears. *elbows Fyre* My friend here actually did her dialogue during that last chapter and I'd say he did really good.**

 **Donfyre: *is jolted awake* H-huh? Oh, yeah, Kumatora. Both me and Fox here have characters we do pretty well at, and apparently I'm pretty good as a Kumatora. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: And as for the adverbs… I kinda missed how much I used 'immediately' in that chapter. When I re-read it I did notice I used it a lot… but I think I'm doing better with that in the later chapters, at least I hope.**

 **Donfyre: That might also be my fault too, I tend to repeat the same adverbs a lot just to accentuate certain points in the story. I should probably be more wary of that.**

 **DarkFoxKit: But hey, criticism always gives us a chance to try and improve. And as for Fassad and Porky… I think everyone's suspicious of them. You'll just have to wait and see what they might do in the future. Now for the next review…**

 **Calm: Whoa! It's very dangerous when a Hydriegon explodes! O-O And you're right about Fyre having low self esteem. :P And that line I had Claus say was the first thing to pop into my head when she kept staring at him. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: H-hey, I try not to show my low self-esteem TOO much! *pouts* But thanks again, Calm! And I'm glad you noticed that line too, it was something I questioned Fox about the moment she decided to type it onto paper.**

 **DarkFoxKit: H-hey! It was fitting and something someone might say in real life if someone was staring at them!**

 **Donfyre: And Claus is still a young child, yet he calls Kumatora a pedophile. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Claus is a young child who is also the commander of an entire army. I don't think there's a lot of 'realism' here. ^^' Anyways, the next and last review for this...**

 **Phoenix: Ah, I see what you did there with 'PK Love'. I know what it's like just starting to get into the fandom as I myself just got into it this spring. And all of these are nice, but… you do know the story's not over yet, right? It's far from over, so it's pretty dang early to be asking for a sequel. This is what I meant by 'some of the readers getting confused'. Did you really think I'd end the story with all those questions left unanswered like that? I hope you read Author Notes, because I don't want you thinking that last chapter was really the final chapter of this story.**

 **Donfyre: Yeah, that would've sucked, since we still have a LOT more planned for this story. But don't take it too hard, your review still helped a lot! Such as how it helped Fox here realize that she made the horrible mistake of accidentally leaving "End of Part 1" at the end of the chapter! XD**

 **DarkFoxKit: It said "End of Part 1"! Not "THE END"! Seriously, you'd think that would imply there's going to be more! Ah, whatever. I deleted the "End of Part 1" to avoid further confusion. The story is not over, it's just the beginning so I hope you'll still be able to read and enjoy the rest of it.**

 **Donfyre: Yep! We still have a loooot more planned for this story, and we're far from over. c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: But… seriously people, we would like to have a little more than just two or three reviews each chapter. It's kinda hard to stay motivated if people don't tell us if they even like the story. We greatly enjoy the reviews we get, but they're from the same people. I appreciate their reviews, both of us do really, but we'd like to know what other people think too.**

 **Donfyre: And we don't wanna sound like we're begging, buuut… they're greatly appreciated. ^^; You can… think of it like a snowball rolling down a hill! The more reviews we get, the more awesome the chapters can be! … Wow, where did that come from? I really am tired…**

 **DarkFoxKit: *puts her paw around Fyre's antenna* He's a Wooper in case ya'll didn't know. ^^' Anyways, that's all we have to say today. I am DarkFoxKit, this is Donfyre my co-writer for this story, and we both look forward to hearing from you… hopefully from _more_ of you soon! See ya!**

 **Donfyre! See ya soooon! *falls over* Zzzzz...**


	11. Chapter 11: Clayman Factory

**DarkFoxKit: Hmmm… mm-hmmm… Well… looks like this chapter will be with Lucas again, and this is where he and Boney finally gains more of a personality. :D**

 **Donfyre: Yep! This will be the start of Lucas's side of the adventure, which should both be very similar and very different from the games. Also, Fox here decided to make Boney a dog who can't shut his trap. And I love the sarcastic character she gave him too… You'll see. XD**

 **DarkFoxKit: Fyyyyyre! The readers are supposed to figure that out themselves. DX**

 **Donfyre: Well it's still gonna surprise them, just watch! He's more than just sarcastic, I'll at least say no more that THAT.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Anyways! Because this chapter mostly focus on Lucas and Boney, we'll be sure to entertain you. I guess that's how Boney's character got developed while writing. ^^' Anyways, we hope you'll enjoy this chapter and we'll answer reviews at the bottom as always!**

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Clayman Factory**

 _It's been six months since the forest fire incident. Claus has been leaving to this job he mentioned on a daily basis, sometimes he comes home late too. I don't like how separate we've been lately and he won't ever tell me what he's been doing. I wish I knew what was going on with him._

* * *

It was morning on another typical day in Tazmily. Flint, Claus and Lucas were all eating breakfast before Claus looked at his watch. "I better get going, my boss will be expecting me."

Lucas looked over at his brother as he stood up and put the dishes into the sink. "Hey Claus, are you sure you have to go every day? It kinda feels like you're hardly home anymore."

"This is important, Lucas." Claus said. "Don't worry about it. I'll be home soon."

Lucas sighed, he just wished Claus didn't always go out for so long. He wondered why Claus never tells him where he's going or what he's doing, but every time he asked Claus would just avoid or dance around the subject and never gives him a straightforward answer.

"Bye Dad! See you later Lucas! Have a good time Boney!" Claus waved to everyone before he left through the front door.

Lucas frowned before he looked to his dad, who was just cleaning the dishes. "Dad… is it okay if I go out today?"

"Hmm? Planning to go back to training with Kumatora again?" Flint asked.

"Uh… well…" Lucas hesitated. "Y-you could say that."

Flint just gave an amused chuckle, probably already knowing what Lucas was thinking. "Go ahead son, I won't say anything."

Lucas gave a smile, "Thanks Dad."

* * *

The blond haired twin hurried out the door so he wouldn't lose sight of his brother. "Boney, come on boy!"

Boney barked and followed after Lucas. The two enjoy walking together whenever Lucas goes into town. The two hurried into town and saw Claus walking to the train station.

" _Are we following Claus?"_ Boney asked.

Lucas put a finger over his lips. "Shhh… Yes. I want to know what he's been doing all this time. I… I feel bad following him like this, but I'm worried for him. He won't tell me or Dad anything about this job… what if he's being forced to do something bad?"

Boney only whined to that. Lucas petted his head before bringing his attention over to Claus. The two were hiding behind a billboard sign and watching as the orange haired twin talking to the train conductor. The two kept watching but someone suddenly spoke up behind them.

"Hey you! Don't block the billboard!" A fat lady with too much makeup on her face snapped.

Lucas and Boney both jumped and backed into the billboard before Claus could turn around to see who was yelling. Lucas prayed he didn't see them, or his brother will interrogate him and the blond haired boy is a terrible liar, especially under pressure, besides, Claus could easily detect a lie from him.

"W-we're sorry." Lucas said softly to the fat lady. "We're uh… looking for something."

"Well look for it somewhere else young man, the billboard isn't a place for you to stand all day." She snapped.

"Y-yes ma'am." Lucas gulped before gesturing to Boney. "C-come on Boney."

The two hurried away from the billboard and got in closer to the train station, they hid behind some pillars as Claus was still talking to the conductor. "-sure don't want to take the green train?"

"Not if it cost an extra 100 DP for it. I only have enough for a ticket and some food for later." Claus said firmly and sounded a little irritated.

"But it's an amazing ride on the green train!" The conductor whined.

The ginger boy glared, "I'm riding _inside_ the train, so I don't really care what the color of it is on the outside. Now are you going to take my pay or am I going to have to file a complaint to your boss?"

The conductor sighed in defeat. "Alright, alright kid. Your train will arrive soon. That'll be 100 DP."

Claus handed him a small sack of DP coins while Lucas and Boney watched the exchange in silence. Lucas began wondering to himself. _Where is Claus going? Is it really so far out there that he needs to take a train to get there?_

Pretty soon an orange train came by and stopped in the station. The doors open and a few people came off of it, looking tired. Claus and a few others were boarding the train.

" _Shouldn't we get on board?"_ Boney asked the blond haired twin.

"No, if we do Claus will see us for sure. Besides, I don't have any DP on me." Lucas frowned.

The little brown dog whined a bit, _"But then how will we find out where Claus is going all the time?"_

"There is only one train track and it leads to one place." Lucas explained. "We'll just have to follow the tracks."

" _On FOOT? Don't you think that's a little far?"_ Boney whined.

Lucas hesitated as he watched the train's doors close and began moving. "What else could we do? We'll just have to hoof it, Boney. Besides, walking is good for you anyway."

Boney froze for a second when Lucas said that. _"... Are you calling me fat?"_

Lucas facepalmed, "Ugh… come on Boney, we've got train tracks to follow."

* * *

When the train Claus got on disappeared into the cave, Lucas and Boney ran across the tracks, about to reach the cave when someone suddenly yelled, "WAAAAAIT!"

"Wah!?" Lucas was suddenly pulled back and away from the track, it happened so fast that he felt dizzy. "What the…?"

"Kid, I just saved your life! What were you thinking? Don't walk on the tracks or a train will run over you!" The man who had pulled Lucas back scolded him.

"H-hey, I need to go there." Lucas protested when he recovered from the sudden pull. "It's important!"

"Kid, you're still young and you shouldn't throw your life away because of some curiosity! Just stay in the village and don't go getting yourself killed." The man scolded before walking away.

Boney sat beside Lucas and scratched his ear with his hind leg. _"Well… that went well. What's the plan now?"_

"We're going to follow the train tracks and nobody's going to stop us." Lucas grumbled. "Come on Boney!"

The two ran towards the cave again, but the man shouted, "STOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"

Lucas was suddenly dragged back before he could blink and the man scolded him again, "Nice try kid! No matter how many times you try I won't let you go past that cave!"

The boy and the dog watched as the man walked away again. "... Is someone paying him to do this?" Lucas grumbled.

" _Either that or the guy's a total nut case. I don't think he'll be letting you go through the train track at this rate."_ Boney barked.

"There must be a way around him." Lucas said with a frown as he began thinking.

" _Well if you find it then let me know."_ Boney barked. _"He doesn't seem to care about us dogs going in, just you human children."_

"Hmm…" Lucas looked at Boney as if getting an idea.

 _The guy seems to only care if a human child goes through the tracks, so maybe if I could disguise myself as an animal we can go through. I went back home to borrow some of Dad's extra sheep wool and…_

" _Lucas… why are you dressed like a sheep?"_ Boney dared to ask the blond haired boy.

Lucas had the shaved wool of the sheep over his body and he was crawling on all four legs. "Well if the man thinks I'm a sheep then he won't care if we cross the train tracks."

" _Lucas you don't look anything like a sheep. Anybody can tell it's you with a sheep's wool over your body. You gotta be a little more clever than that."_ Boney said.

"Well what else can I do? Besides it's not like I'm going to some costume contest, just as long as it's enough to get us through the tracks then it doesn't matter." Lucas said.

" _Whatever you say, but he's not going to fall for it."_ Boney yipped as he and Lucas went back into town.

Lucas and Boney soon passed the cave and leaving Tazmily village. Lucas smirked as Boney grumbled. _"Okay, maybe he only saw your back, nobody can be that stupid."_

"It still worked. Now we're free to follow this track and find Claus." Lucas said as he took off the wool. As soon as he did he heard the man's shout.

"WAAAAAAIT!" And he was suddenly dragged out of the cave and back into the village. "How many times do I have to say it before I get it into your thick skull? Do. Not. Cross. The. TRACK!" The man scolded before walking away.

Lucas blinked a few times, still in shock that the man was able to see him somehow in the cave and drag him out, before he narrowed his blue eyes as annoyance began to settle in.

Boney came back out and wagged his tail in amusement. _"So… you were saying?"_

"Don't. Say. A. Word." Lucas grumbled.

The blond haired boy put the sheep wool back on and hurried into the cave with Boney. This time he didn't take it off until they were further in. When the boy turned to look back he sighed, "Okay, I think it's safe now."

" _And if it's not?"_ Boney questioned.

"Then we make a break for it." Lucas said as he took off the sheep wool and put it into his bag.

Then that familiar shout rang through the cavern that made Lucas cringe. "HEEEEEEEEEEY!"

"Go! Go! Go!" Lucas yelped as he and Boney ran for it.

* * *

The two ran down the cavern tracks through the other side, but Lucas didn't dare to stop there and kept going with his loyal dog right behind him. They hurried to the next cavern and the other side of that. Lucas still ran and Boney began to pant.

" _How… much… longer… do we… have to… run?"_ The dog whimpered.

"Just until… I know… he's not… following us…" Lucas panted back.

They were running past another cavern when Lucas saw a light up ahead and seemed to be coming right at them. The boy's blue eyes widen at this when he realized what it was; an incoming train.

"MOVE!" Lucas yelled.

The train let out a loud sound from its steam engine locomotive and the wheels were loud so Lucas wasn't even sure if Boney heard him. The incoming train was coming at them with fast speed, there was no way it could stop before hitting them head on. Almost as if in slow motion, Lucas and Boney both dived off the track, barely avoiding the train from running over them.

"Oof!" Lucas and Boney whimpered as they hit the ground and the train pass without trouble.

Lucas and Boney lifted their heads from the dirt and both sighed in relief. "That man wasn't kidding when he said these tracks aren't safe. But that's not going to stop me to see what Claus is up to."

" _Geez Lucas, you're going to be the death of me at this rate."_ Boney grumbled.

The two were a little shaken up from that train incident, so they decided to stay off the track as they continued to follow where the tracks lead.

* * *

 _Boney and I have been walking through cave after land after cave. The tracks are long, no wonder they needed a train. There were a few wild chimeras along the way, like the strange half dog, half mushroom and some… weird stick thing with a chick's head… how is that even biologically possible? Still they weren't hard to deal with, my PK Love easily knocked them out. But by the time we exited the fifth cave we were exhausted. Boney and I sat down, my mind was tired from fighting with wild chimeras and my body was exhausted from the long walk. Boney wasn't too much better off, he got into a few tussles with those mushroom dogs._

* * *

Lucas and Boney both sat down and groaned in exhaustion. The 12 year old boy looked up at the sky, seeing the sun high in the sky. "Great, it's already noon and we haven't even reached the place Claus went to."

" _And this is why people use the trains to travel."_ The dog whined.

"I'm sorry Boney! I didn't have any DP… but maybe I should've packed some food or something." Lucas sighed, looking at his bag that only had the sheep wool and the wooden staff he uses to fight with. "If only there was a hot spring nearby or something…"

Boney just gave a whimper in agreement before his nose began picking up on something. _"Hmm?"_

Lucas noticed the dog going over somewhere. "What is it, Boney?"

The dog barked and was sniffing something. Lucas went over to get a closer look. "... This looks like… somebody's clothes?"

" _It smells… almost kinda like that Kumatora girl and something else… it's a bit weird. I can't tell if it's human or something else."_ Boney said.

Lucas looked up to see a ladder leading somewhere. "I'm going to see if there's something up that ladder, there might be some food there."

" _W-wait, don't go alone, there might be something dangerous up there!"_ Boney barked as he used his paws to climb the ladder with after Lucas.

When the boy came to the top he was greeted with a pleasant surprise. "Hot springs? Out here?"

Boney came up too and wagged his tail, obviously happy at seeing the hot springs himself. _"Finally we can soak in and relax from all this walking."_

Boney didn't hesitate to get into the hot water and gave a smile of satisfaction, but something kept Lucas from going in, namely the person who was already in the hot springs.

"Uh… excuse me?" Lucas called. "Um… h-hello?"

The person turned and Lucas almost jumped back when he saw the face. "I-Ionia?"

The Magypsy gave a smile upon seeing him, "Ah, Lucas! I haven't seen you in almost half a year, how have you been cutie~?"

"Um… I've been good… Uh…" Lucas was thankful he couldn't see Ionia naked through the steam of the hot spring.

"My, you look exhausted. Why don't you come in and soak for a bit? You'll feel so much better~" Ionia suggested to the blond haired boy.

"Er… y-yeah, thanks." Lucas hesitated before taking off his shoes and slowly getting into the hot water, fully clothed, he was _not_ stripping in front of Ionia and with all this running he'll dry off before long.

"So what brings you two cuties way out here~?" Ionia asked after Lucas got settled into the hot spring.

Boney just stayed quiet and relaxed while Lucas did the talking. "We're actually following Claus. We saw him take a train so we're following the tracks."

"Oh? Your cute twin brother?" Ionia smiled.

"Yeah. Claus won't tell us anything and I'm getting worried… so Boney and I decided to see what he's up to." Lucas said. "I know… it seems silly to go through such trouble, but I just want to make sure he's okay."

"I suppose it's natural for you to be worried for your twin brother, you two do complete each other after all~ If only he had PSI…" Ionia sighed. "Well if he took the train that must mean he's either going to the new factory that was built recently or the new club that just opened a few days ago."

"Factory? Club?" Lucas blinked, this was news to him.

"Oh yeah, didn't you hear?" The Magypsy chuckled. "This King P fellow built a Clayman Factory, it's a new job for people to earn DP if they can't earn enough in their little village. He also made the club… Club Titiboo I think it was called, for people to go to in order to have some fun and relax after a hard day's work. Personally I don't care for such things, but it does sound nice for working humans."

Lucas began thinking about this new information. _A factory, huh? Could that be the job Claus was talking about? If so why didn't he ever tell us? Still I can't help but feel like he's doing more than working at some factory. I'm determined to find out what it is._

 _After spending a good amount of time in the hot springs I decided it was time to go. I couldn't afford to take a long break since I do have a brother to catch up to. So after feeling refreshed enough to keep going, Boney and I said goodbye to Ionia and headed on our way. We passed by more caverns and lands until…_

Lucas and Boney were walking past another cave and when they got close to the end, Boney began barking as he ran ahead. _"I smell it Lucas! The smell of sweat, labor and mild pollution. It's definitely a factory, we're here!"_

The blond haired boy smiled at this as he hurried to the end of the tunnel. Once the two got to the other side, they were greeted with… Cattlesnakes…? Lucas and Boney blinked at the weird cow with a snake's neck and tail, not wanting to mess with it. This chimera seemed tame enough not to attack unless provoked, which was good since Lucas didn't want to have to deal with a rampaging snake cow.

Passing the Cattlesnakes, they saw another train station. Passing that they saw a big building with people working around the place. Lucas smiled as he bent down to pet his loyal dog. "We did it Boney, we made it. Now to find out where Claus is…"

The factory looked like a big warehouse than a factory, but Lucas wasn't complaining. He and Boney were tired but they're close to Claus now, they just know it.

" _Maybe we should work here, at least enough for some DP so we don't have to walk all the way back to Tazmily."_ Boney suggested.

"Maybe, if they let kids my age help out." Lucas said back before standing back up. "Still… if Claus _is_ here then maybe working here is the best way to find him."

* * *

The two walked into the building where they saw a blue Pigmask standing by the counter. Lucas approached the Pigmask. "Oh hello there young man. Are you here to get a job?"

"... Yes, I am." Lucas said after with some hesitation. "Where do I sign up?"

"Hmm…" The blue Pigmask looked down at him. "... How old are you?"

"... I'm f-fourteen." Lucas mentally scolded himself for stuttering there.

"Fourteen? … Are you sure kid? You look a little younger than that." The Pigmask said skeptically.

"I-I know, and I get that a lot, but I'm just a little short for my age is all." Lucas quickly said.

"... Well if you're here for a job then who am I to complain? More workers is better if you ask me. Alright kid, sign here and you can begin working. Since you're… not quite tall yet, we'll just have you help push the tired Clayman to the recharging room. The people there will explain it to you better." The Pigmask said.

Lucas sighed in relief and nodded as he signed his name on the paper. The blue Pigmask took the paper and said, "So you're Lucas, huh?"

"Yes sir, that's my name." Lucas said with a shy smile.

"... You know… you kinda look like our Co- actually that's none of my business. Alright Lucas, you go to the back and-" The blue Pigmask noticed the dog behind Lucas. "Whoa there, is that your dog?"

"Uh… yes? … Are pets not allowed here?" Lucas frowned.

"It's not that, it's just all animals have their own jobs here too. Powering the generator. If you're going to work here you need to have your dog be put to work too." The Pigmask said. "Put him on the treadmill and let him run with the rest of them while you work for eight hours."

Lucas looked at Bone before nodding, "Okay sir, I'll do just that."

"Good kid. I'll see you when you clock out." The Pigmask said as Lucas and Boney walked to the back.

" _Since when are you fourteen?"_ Boney asked.

"Since looking for Claus became a goal for us." Lucas hissed back.

" _Wow, you've certainly picked up your brother's sassy attitude."_ Boney yipped in amusement. _"So I guess I'll be running a treadmill while you find… tired Clayman… whatever the heck that is."_

"Yeah… I'm guessing those are the Claymen." Lucas said as he pointed at some big robot things made of clay.

* * *

Two goofy looking people were working in this particular room. One was a chubby man wearing the standard yellow working suit with an orange-yellow cap over his head. The other one was taller and thinner, he also wore the yellow suit, but he didn't have a cap, he has very short brown hair, but the feature that caught Lucas's attention the most about this man was his big nose.

"Oh hello Lucas, I take it you're new here?" The chubby one asked.

"Uh… y-yes, I am." Lucas said shyly. _How did he know my name?_

"Don't you remember us, Lucas? It's us; Lou and Bud! We were practicing to being comedians back in Tazmily, remember?" The tall one, the one called Lou, said hopefully.

"Uh…" Lucas felt rather bad that he didn't remember them.

"It's okay Lucas, not many people really remembered us." The shorter one, Bud, sighed. "Our comedy career didn't take off like we hoped so we have to take up work in the factory to make a living."

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that." Lucas said with a frown.

"I guess it doesn't matter anymore. So I guess you're here to earn some DP too, huh?" Lou said. "What did they assign you with?"

"Oh… I'm supposed to find tired Claymen and bring them here to be recharged... I think." Lucas said, sounding a bit unsure.

"Yeah, you'll find plenty of those in the mine." Bud said. "It's our job to recharge them when they get tired. Problem is the tired ones tend to get lost so someone has to push them back here."

"Alright…" Lucas said with a thoughtful frown. "But how will I tell which ones are the tired ones?"

"It'll be pretty obvious when you see them. They'll be all deformed and hardly moving around." Lou explained. "When you find one like that all you gotta do is get behind it and push, just lead it back here."

"Alright, I'll do my best." Lucas said before turning to his dog. "Come on Boney, we've got a job to do."

Boney barked before following Lucas into the next room. Boney whined a bit when he knew he had to leave Lucas to go into the mine by himself. _"I rather stay with you and help you find Claus if he's somewhere in the mine."_

"I know Boney, and with your nose it would make it easier to find him. But if you go with me they'll get mad at us for not letting you do your job and kick us out. You just focus on running and I'll look for Claus while looking for tired Claymen too." The 12 year old boy said. "We can do this."

Boney whined again before nodding. _"Alright. We've got eight hours to find him, shouldn't be too hard. I'm counting on you Lucas, be careful down there."_

Lucas nodded and patted Boney's head. "You do a good job running the treadmill now!"

As soon as Lucas stood up, Boney went over to an empty treadmill. The boy was surprised to see another dog and a pig running on treadmills too, were they pets to other employees around here or did they just needed jobs that badly? Lucas rather bet it was the former as the latter didn't quite make a lot of sense.

Boney began running on the treadmill as Lucas head on over to the ladder that lead down into the mine. The boy was surprised how far down this lead, and when he got down there he was even more shocked to see how labyrinth the mine is. _Oh no… I hope I don't get lost in here while looking for Claus…_

* * *

 _The entire mine was like one big maze, how does anyone not get lost here? I saw some people as well as these Claymen working around here. It looks like they're gathering clay for more Claymen. Why would they need so much anyways? The more I walked around the more I begin to wonder if I'll even find Claus here at all. I did find a tired Clayman and had to push it all the way back to the entrance where a pink Pigmask used an elevator lift to help get me and the Clayman back to the top. Once I pushed it to the recharge room Lou and Bud showed me that these Claymen will be recharged instantaneously by zapping it with the right amount of electricity… talk about effective workers._

 _I continued my search in the mine even though I did have to push the tired Claymen back to the recharging room. I walked around the mine so much that at this point I've memorized the place. I guess that's how people who work here never get lost; you walk around in it for so long your mind just subconsciously remembers. I think I've searched everywhere and still no sign of Claus. I've met and interacted with some people around here, but they mostly talked about Club Titiboo and how they're gonna spend most of their hard earned DP just to 'have a good time' there. It's kind of a waste if you ask me. But nobody have seen Claus here it seems._

 _If Claus isn't here, then where is he? Ionia did say it was possible he was at the club… so if he's not working here… could he be working at Club Titiboo? I guess there's only one way to find out._

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: Lucas's chapter isn't quite over yet, but we decided to cut it here since the other half got way too long.**

 **Donfyre: Yeah. Besides, you can think of this as a, uh… teaser for the Lucas chapters! There'll be more to come. XP**

 **DarkFoxKit: Erm… of course starting late in part 3 the chapters are gonna get monsterly long unless I cut them… But that'll be something in the future. Anyways I'm happy to announce we have more reviews to work with! Let's get to it!**

 **Fantasysword92375: You're reading this without ever playing ANY of the Mother games? Why? This is meant for Mother 3 fans really.**

 **Donfyre: Uh… so you're not lost, but you don't know what's going on...? Er… at least you think we did good, I guess. ^^; Also, if you haven't played a single Mother game… PLAY ONE RIGHT NOW! They are amazing, and this story has spoilers for Mother 3 anyways and that is one game you do NOT want to be spoiled on!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yeah seriously, go play them, like now, before you read any further! Anyways…**

 **The-Great-Me-sama: Yeah I kinda figured the fanbase was small, but it still would give us more motivation seeing what people think and if they like it or what needs to be fixed. And I'm glad to know that this story may become big one day. As for the lightning sword… yeah that would've been really cool to have as an ultimate weapon for Lucas or someone, too bad that's not the case, I mean it doesn't even have an official name. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: I agree, that would have been cool though! Like the Final Fantasy games that let you take boss weapons and stuff! But too bad that's not the case… even though I can't really see any of Lucas's party being able to wield a sword anyways.**

 **DarkFoxKit: And besides, if it was a random drop I don't really think a lot of people would be too keen on having to reset the fight with the Masked Man over and over again until they finally get it. ^^' He's pretty dang tough unless you're really overleveled.**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: Yay! So cool that you've made an account now! Now we can PM each other if we needed to. :3 And uh… good luck with the Electrode infestation. ^^' Oh Fyre, you want to take this part?**

 **Donfyre: … H-huh? Wait, you're making me answer about my low self-esteem? DX Well… I guess the question is directed at me. I-I'd like to think I am good at hiding it… most of the time. ^^; And I'm a pretty good hider! I can hide from Fox here pretty easily when I need to! … Mostly.**

 **DarkFoxKit: WHAT!? What do you mean by that!?**

 **Donfyre: Er… *hides under a bed* C-carry on! ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: We are going to have a talk about this later young Wooper! *ahem* Anyways… I felt it was unnecessary to show Claus trying to learn to fly, so I made it into a montage. If I ever do the spin off chronicle series I could show it in more detail, but that's IF I ever do it. And as for how the renegades- that's their official names now- know about Claus being the Commander, it's because a few of them are in the Pigmask base as spies and feeding information to them. And the rest… I'll just let you have fun with that.**

 **AShinyBlueMew: Yeah, I like being more detailed orientated when it comes to stories. As for when Lucas and the Masked "Man" fight, that would be pretty interesting. And I'm not sure who you're talking about there… are you referring to Dr. Andonuts?**

 **Donfyre: That's what I thought too… Either you forgot to type his/her name or Fanfiction just decided to mess up and delete that part you wrote. Well… we can still answer the question if you want! Just leave the name next time. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yeah, the name IS kinda important even if you're not sure how to spell it, otherwise we're not sure who you're talking about.**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan: When you don't have to worry about school or a job, it's easy to forget it's Monday. Otherwise it's easily the most hated day of the week.**

 **Glad to know you're still reading! And it's really your favorite? Wow, I mean since there's so few on this site it's pretty easy to find some good ones. I'm glad to know the build-up, the description and the morning sun were all perfect, although I won't be using the morning sun thing much in part 2 and onward. ^^' Well Claus really doesn't want Lucas finding out he has PSI or that he's a high rank in the Pigmask Army, but I see what you mean. Heh, glad to know you're looking foward to that lightning sword Claus uses. :P**

 **Donfyre: Whaaaaat? What was that about Monday, Fox? Monday be everybody's favorite day of the week! That's common knowledge. c: And nice to know that you love the fanfic so much! We'll have a looooot more exciting things in store!**

 **DarkFoxKit: And our next reviewer… Ah, our main reader and criticizer. :3**

 **Connor the speling pro: Uhhh…. yeah… chapter length may become an issue later… ^^' Okay let's see here… Well Dr. Andonuts is mostly just a doctor, not really a semi-major character, but more of a supportive character. Not every character who have importance to the story needs to be a major or semi major after all. Besides, I like how he turns out in later chapters of the series. And the action scenes are a little tougher to do since they're usually battle scenes and they tend to blend together to look the same… but we're trying not to make it all too similar. As for that last part with the descriptions being detached… well when I did part 1 it was just gonna be in mild third person, not really in Claus or Lucas's point of view, but a third person point of view that was focused on them, that's why it was so detached. But it's gotten to more of their point of view later on so you don't have to worry about that. *looks at Fyre* Your turn.**

 **Donfyre: *is curled up next to her* Zzzzz…**

 **DarkKFoxKit: -_-' *flicks his forehead* Wake up!**

 **Donfyre: WAH! *shakes my head* … O-oh, right. You've been talking so long and did so much of a majority of the reviewers that it's hard NOT to fall asleep. ^^; Anyways, Fox is right about the chapter lengths later on. There's gonna be a looot more coming.**

 **As for your criticisms, (which thanks by the way for actually HAVING criticisms, it's always nice to know what we need to work on), I can see what you mean by all of them. The action scenes, as Fox said, are kinda supposed to be like the battle scenes from the game, so I can see why they all feel similar. We'll try to keep that in mind though! And that last part… well, I didn't really start helping Fox much 'till around the beginning of Part 2-ish, and by then our control over the POV changed to be a bit more evolved and personal towards the character that we're focused on. Hopefully that'll be seen in the later chapters to come!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Heh, yeah, because in part 1 it was in early development so I didn't really have an idea where I wanted to go with it yet, mostly just experimenting at that point. But now that we know where we want to go, it's a lot easier investing with our characters. And now… one last reviewer…**

 **it's me: … Um… Freddy is that you? O_O**

 **Donfyre: H-hey, that's what I was gonna say! Uh… alright Golden Freddy, good to know we got the thumbs up from you… I-I think. *hides behind Fox***

 **DarkFoxKit: … Well now! We're done here. I hope you guys continue to enjoy this story. I am DarkFoxKit, this is my co-writer Donfyre, and we look forward to hearing from you. Now if you'll excuse us, we have some doors to shut.**

 **Donfyre: *has already shut and is barricading the doors* CAMERA! We need that for another purpose! *takes the camera and shuts it off***


	12. Chapter 12: Welcome to Club Titiboo

**DarkFoxKit: Hello everyone! And yes, this is still a Lucas chapter. The chapter's a bit short due to it being cut.**

 **Donfyre: Yep! We wouldn't leave you off on an ending like last chapter's and switch you back to Claus's POV. We still have the rest of this scenario to go over! XP**

 **DarkFoxKit: Exactly! And we're going to have fun with it too. :P *Has a Goodra towering over Fyre***

 **Donfyre: *sweatdrops* Uh… W-what's that, Fox?**

 **DarkFoxKit: Oh… just a little something in case you run away. :3**

 **Donfyre: *gulps* R-riiiiight… Uh, you guys go ahead and have fun reading the chapter! I'll be busy trying to think of ways to ru- I mean, we'll be busy thinking of our responses to the reviews! *smiles nervously***

 **DarkFoxKit: Hee, hee, hee. Hug him, Goodra! Give him a nice, slimy hug!**

 **Donfyre: WAH! W-wait, I don't-!**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Welcome to Club Titiboo**

Lucas just finished pushing the last tired Clayman he could find in the mine. Lou and Bud were going to handle it from there and the boy went back to where Boney was. "Boney, it's been eight hours, we can leave now."

The tired dog jumped off the treadmill and panted. _"Finally… I thought my legs were going to fall off after all that running. Did you find Claus?"_

Lucas only shook his head sadly, "No… I don't think Claus is here. So he might be at the club Ionia and all the other workers kept mentioning."

" _Oh, yeah I've heard about that club from the pig. Well if your brother isn't here I guess we can try going there next. Don't we need some kind of ticket for it?"_ Boney asked.

"Maybe. I'm going to ask the Pigmask in front. I think someone told me that after work we would get a free club ticket to get in." Lucas said.

" _Sounds good to me. If that club is really so relaxing after a hard day's work then I'm all for it."_ Boney barked as he and Lucas made their way back out of the warehouse.

"Yo Lucas! We'll be working overtime but you did a good job!" Lou said to the boy.

"Yeah, thanks for bringing in the tired Claymen!" Bud smiled.

"Thanks, you guys did great too." Lucas said with a smile to them before leaving the room.

* * *

As soon as Lucas and Boney were back at the counter, the blue Pigmask seemed to be pleased. "Well done Lucas, your hard work will not go without pay." The Pigmask handed Lucas a sack of DP. "You'll be paid 200 DP for your work today. And since this was your first time here you earn a free ticket to Club Titiboo."

Lucas smiled as the blue Pigmask handed him a nice big red ticket. "It's a great place to enjoy after a hard day's work. I plan to go there myself once my shift is over."

"Thank you. I'll be sure to make the most use of this." Lucas said happily to the Pigmask, glad that he had the key to finding his brother in his hands… or _ticket_ in this case.

"You do know how to get to Club Titiboo, right?" The Pigmask asked. "It's on top of a mountain, so you need to show this ticket to the one in charge of the skyline, he'll take you there in a jiffy."

 _With the ticket to the club in hand, Boney and I made our way out of the warehouse factory. I remember seeing the skyline not too far from the factory and we made a beeline there. There were a few chimeras along the way; a gorilla head with bat wings on the side and a plant flower with pig heads. Is it just me or are these chimeras getting stranger and stranger? Ignoring those, Boney and I went to the guy in charge of the skyline._

"Um… hello sir? We want to go to the top of the mountain… uh, please?" Lucas said shyly to the man standing in front of the skyline.

"Is that so? Do you have tickets?" The man asked.

Lucas took out the red ticket from his pocket to show the man. The man studied it for a few seconds before nodding, "Alright kid, hope on in."

Lucas smiled, "Thank you!" He and Boney quickly boarded the skyline. Soon it began slowly taking them up towards the mountain where Club Titiboo and possibly Claus are.

* * *

 _The view from the skyline was amazing. It was nice seeing what was down there even though most of it is just more wilderness. I did see another building not too far from the Clayman factory but not that close to it either. When the Skyline made it to the top of the mountain, Boney and I noticed a tall tower from a far distance from here. We didn't know what it was but I doubt Claus is over there since it's so far away. So we made our way towards Club Titiboo._

* * *

Lucas and Boney were both tired and hungry, and frankly they could use some rest and relaxation in this club. They have some DP for food so that should help, and hopefully Claus is a waiter or something so it wouldn't be too hard to find him.

"Hold it." Someone suddenly said, stopping Lucas and Boney.

Two men were standing in front of the door of Club Titiboo and they looked rather intimidating.

"Uh… is there a problem?" Lucas timidly asked.

"Do you have a ticket?" One of them asked.

"Y-yeah, of course I do." The young boy said as he showed them the ticket.

"You look pretty young, younger than 18. We will escort you to the kid's zone." The other bodyguard said before looking at the dog beside the boy. "... Is that your pet?"

"Yeah, this is Boney." Lucas said, frowning a bit.

"Sorry kid, but we have a strict 'no pets' allowed policy." The other bodyguard said firmly. "You can go in alone but the dog is not allowed."

"What? But Boney's a good dog!" Lucas protested. "We came here together and I'm not leaving him behind!"

"Then I guess you're not getting in."

Lucas frowned and Boney whined. The boy turned around and began walking away. "Come on Boney, it's clear we're not welcomed here."

Boney whimpered before turning around and walking away too, giving the most pitiful of puppy dog eyes to the two bodyguards before walking out of their sight with Lucas.

* * *

As soon as the two were out of their sight, Lucas was digging around his backpack. Boney barked, _"Lucas, what are you doing?"_

"We're getting in there one way or another, Boney." Lucas said. "Good thing I packed some extra clothes." he pulled out a green shirt and a red and white striped looking hat. "Put these on."

Boney yipped in shock, _"W-w-wait WHAT!? Why? You know I don't like that itchy stuff over my body!"_

Lucas had to put a hand over the barking dog's muzzle to keep him quiet. "Shhh! Don't give us away Boney! Look I know you don't like wearing clothes but those stubborn guys aren't going to let us in unless they think you're human. Come on Boney, do it for Claus?"

Boney whined at this before giving a nod since Lucas had his hand over his mouth. Lucas smiled and gave a sigh of relief before putting the green shirt over the dog's head. "Alright, now try to walk on your hind legs too and whatever you do; don't bark."

With the disguise on, Lucas and Boney walked back to the bodyguards. Boney had trouble trying to stay on his two hind legs and needed to lean over the blond haired boy to keep his balance.

"Hey guys… so since I couldn't bring my dog, maybe I could bring my friend with me instead?" Lucas asked nervously.

One of the bodyguards looked at them suspiciously, "... This friend of yours looks awfully hairy."

Boney looked like he was going to retort to that but Lucas quickly spoke up, "I-it's a condition, he's really sensitive about it. Could we please just go on in? We're tired after a long day at the factory."

The other bodyguard was looking at Boney with a more curious look. "Hmm… your friend looks like a dog."

Boney gave a whimper and Lucas said, "H-hey, I told you it's a condition. Please watch what you say, you're hurting his feelings."

"... Very well, it's not our place to judge. My partner here will lead you two to the kid zone, it's a place for those younger than 18. Do not leave the kid zone, you are underage for the rest of the club."

 _If there's a zone meant for those younger than 18 then Claus SHOULD be there. If he's not then… no, I better think positive._ Lucas thought to himself as the other bodyguard ordered him and Boney to follow him.

* * *

Boney had to keep his front paws over Lucas's shoulder to keep from falling back down on his four legs. Lucas noticed the bodyguard was eyeing them suspiciously. "His legs aren't in the best of shape… there was an accident and… well he needs someone to help support him." Lucas quickly said, feeling terrible for lying.

The bodyguard didn't comment on this but at least he stopped eyeing them so much. Lucas looked around at the place, there were a lot of people here though most of them went through these big fancy doors. There was the smell of food, it made Lucas mouth water because he was hungry and he's sure Boney would like nothing more than to scarf down every food in sight if he could.

The bodyguard soon lead them into another section where everything had toys for the younger kids, video games and books for the older ones and computers for the teenage ones. "This is the kid zone, you will stay here until you're ready to leave." The bodyguard said to Lucas and Boney. "Is that understood?"

"Y-yes sir." Lucas said as Boney just nodded.

"Good." With that, the bodyguard left through the door.

Lucas turned to Boney, "Can you pick up on Claus's scent?"

Boney shook his head. _"There's too many different smells here. I can't pinpoint his scent like this."_

This made Lucas frown, "I guess we'll have to search for him the old fashion way."

* * *

 _Boney and I looked around the place. There were a lot of other kids here, some my age, some younger- I guess they lied about their age too, but most of them were much older in their mid or late teen years. We tried our best to avoid them as he searched for my twin brother. After about an hour or two of searching neither of us found Claus anywhere in this mess._

" _Lucas, I hate to say this but I don't think Claus is here."_ Boney whined as he was on his stomach.

Lucas sat down and sighed, "I don't get it. We saw him take the train to come over here. He wasn't in the factory and now we can't find him here either. Where could he be? Unless he somehow snuck out of here or convinced those guys that he's much older than he looks I don't see where else he could possibly be."

" _Well Claus is a trouble enough maker to want to sneak out of here."_ Boney suggested.

Lucas sighed, "I guess there's only one way to find out."

The boy slowly opened the door that leads back into the adult section. He peeked around slowly before gesturing to Boney to follow him. The two slowly began walking out of the door when a young waitress with pink hair caught them.

"Hey! Where do you two think you're going!?"

Lucas yelped and almost jumped out of his skin while Boney fell on his back from the shock. "W-w-we're sorry! W-w-we were just… uh… looking for the bathroom…?"

The waitress looked at the two of them suspiciously. "Really? … Well if that's all you're looking for, then follow me sirs! *giggle*" She had a sudden change of attitude once she said this, starting to walk down the hall that Lucas and Boney were already planning to go down.

Lucas and Boney looked at each other as the waitress continued down the hall. The two of them stayed close by but were wondering how they were going to get away from this waitress, but Lucas frowned as he looked at her.

 _I don't know why but something feels familiar about that waitress. There was an aura she gave out that reminded me of PSI, but I only knew of the Magypsies, myself and Kumatora have PSI._ Lucas thought to himself, then he noticed where she was taking them. _Wait a minute, where is she taking us? I'm pretty sure the bathroom's not that far away._

"Uh… Miss… um… waitress…?" Lucas hated being rude but he never got her name. "H-how far away is the bathroom?"

"Oh, you mean those run-down bathrooms?" the waitress responded. "Those things are under maintenance, you know how the older ones can get at a place like this, they get just a little out-of-hand in the bathrooms." she giggled as she said this. "So I'm taking you to another bathroom instead!" Even though she said this, Lucas wasn't sure just how much he could trust the lady at where she was taking him.

"But wasn't this place just built a few days ago?" Lucas asked timidly. "Um… miss…?" He wished she would tell him her name, it was starting to drive him crazy.

* * *

Just as Lucas thought that, one of the adults in the hall called to their direction. "Hey there, Violet! Oh, Lucas, you here too?"

Lucas recognized the voice. "Thomas?"

"Heeeey there, didn't know you hung out here too? What're you doing with such a pretty lady as Violet here?" Thomas asked as he eyed the waitress, which Lucas assumed was Violet.

"Uh yeah…" Lucas hesitated.

"And who's that hairy friend of yours?" Thomas asked, looking at Boney. "I don't think I've ever seen him before."

Boney let out a small whine and Lucas said, "H-he's a new friend of mine… a-and it's a condition!" Then he realized they were in a big place full of people and tables, and ahead was some kind of huge stage with different kinds of instruments he's never seen before. "Wait, where are we?" He had been so preoccupied with Violet he didn't even notice where they were going.

Violet giggled as she answered. "At the stage, of course! This is where the main event goes on!"

"H-huh…?" Lucas was now very confused. He _did_ want to get to this area just to find Claus… but he wondered why the waitress had helped bring him here when he had just said that he wanted to go to the bathroom.

" _Uh Lucas… That waitress… she smells like Ku-"_ Boney began to say but was interrupted.

"Hey, Violet, since you went through the trouble to bring these two friends here, why not give them some Big City Sodas?" Thomas said. "It's on me, Lucas."

"Of course, two Big City Sodas for these two young men right here!" she said, giggling again as Thomas walked away. Once he was out of hearing distance, the pink-haired waitress turned to Lucas and Boney… almost in a secret way.

"Hey, Lucas, it's me Kumatora." she whispered.

At this, Lucas stared at her with wide blue eyes, it was if she just said the sky was purple instead of blue. "... K-Kumatora…? B-but…. you're… why are you…?" Lucas couldn't get the words out, he knew Kumatora after training with her for almost two years and being caught in a dress like this was the LAST thing he ever expected her to do.

Violet- or, Kumatora, frowned at Lucas when she saw his expression. "Oh shut up if you're wondering why I'm dressed in this girly outfit- I have reasons. I brought you here since it's loud enough for us to talk without someone overhearing. But it's still not safe to talk here, so just watch the show and I'll take you somewhere else where we can talk more openly."

"O-okay." Lucas said, still in shock.

Boney looked like he was trying not to laugh, mostly at Lucas's expression.

* * *

 _I didn't see Claus anywhere, but then again this place is pretty crowded so it wasn't exactly easy to look. The lights went out and some band called the DCMC came on stage and began playing music. I'll admit the song is really good, and I could swear the one playing the… bass was it? The one playing that looked an awful lot like Duster with poofy hair. Once their song performance was over I saw Kumatora gesturing me and Boney to follow her._

* * *

"Where are we going Ku- I mean Violet?" Lucas asked as she lead them towards a big hole in the wall at the end of the hallway. _Some new place, it's already got a huge hole in the wall._

"Just a new area that I think would be perfect to show to our guests." she said giggling. Now that Lucas knew that this was Kumatora… he found it a little uncomfortable but kinda funny that she could pull off an act like this when she was _nothing_ like this in reality.

She lead them up into the attic, where there were a lot of rats, both normal and chimera kinds. She looked around before nodding to herself. "It should be safe to talk here."

"Wow, I can't believe there's a hole that leads into the attic." Lucas said in surprise, looking around.

"Actually Duster and I made this so we can talk in private and away from the guards when we need to." Kumatora answered.

"Oh… wait, Duster's here too?" Lucas said shocked. "Why? I mean Boney and I only came here because we were following Claus… Oh, Claus! Have you seen him here, Kumatora?"

"Whoa, whoa, one thing at a time Lucas." Kumatora chuckled. "Duster and I have been keeping a close eye on the Pigmasks since the forest fire incident. We heard they went through all the trouble to build a factory and now some club. We wanted to investigate, so both of us came here undercover to find out what they're up to. I became a waitress while Duster became the DCMC's bass player, he's very good at it. As for your brother Claus… I haven't seen him…"

"Oh…" Lucas's face fell in disappointment. "But why did you and Duster decide to come out here without telling me?"

"Well… you said you wanted a break from training and I hadn't had the chance to talk to you in Tazmily. I figured you wouldn't want to get involved." Kumatora shrugged.

"... I guess not. But I came here because I'm worried about Claus because he's been distant lately and keeps disappearing for a job he won't tell us about." Lucas said sadly.

"I'm sure Claus is just… having a hard time with something." Kumatora said after some hesitance.

"But we saw him get on a train, so he _has_ to be here." Lucas protested.

"Maybe, but I certainly haven't seen him. Then again I wasn't exactly looking for him. I'm going to go talk to Duster about this." Kumatora said.

"Boney and I will keep looking for my brother then." Lucas said. "I'm sure he's here somewhere, he's gotta be."

"It's possible he had went home already but you're free to try and find him. Just don't get caught by the stuffy guards here." Kumatora said with a smirk. "If you do, just knock them out, they may act tough but they're such easy knockouts."

At this, Lucas sweatdropped. "I rather not cause trouble."

"Suit yourself. While you're here maybe you can also find out what these Pigmasks are up to. Me and Duster can help you find Claus too." Kumatora suggested.

Lucas nodded, "Sure, thanks Kumatora."

Boney then spoke up, _"But how are we going to find him without getting caught? Anyone can see you're not an adult, Lucas."_

"... Maybe we can use the air vents around here and see if we can find him like that. Maybe you can smell for him too so we'll know he's close by." Lucas suggested.

"Be careful not to damage the air vents. They might be a little fragile, don't want you falling on some poor soul." Kumatora warned. "I'll see you two later."

With those words said, the pink haired PSI user walked off somewhere, leaving Lucas alone with Boney. "Alright Boney, let's get into the air vents."

" _At least I can be back on four legs instead of two for now."_ The dog barked in relief.

* * *

 _Boney and I squeezed into the air ducts, crawling through the narrow passage ways. I had Boney in front of me so he can use his nose to try and sniff out Claus's scent. Boney was having trouble finding him as we came across grates after grates, seeing a bunch of rooms and people… a few rooms had me horrified because there was a man and a woman on a bed together and- you know what... I'll just skip that disturbing detail. We crawled through more places until Boney stopped and crawled out of the way so I could see the grate below._

"The auditorium? Why'd you stop here, Boney?" Lucas asked when he recognized the place.

" _I smelled something… it smelled kinda like Claus but at the same time different. It's hard for me to tell, maybe he got covered in something."_ Boney whimpered softly.

The blond haired boy frowned at this. They were so close yet so far, but he just knew Claus HAD to be here, it was only a matter of finding him.

Lucas searched through the grate below, trying to find him. He couldn't see the special ginger hair his brother always have, but one thing did catch his attention; someone wearing a shiny gray helmet. The helmet is what caught his attention and when he studied that person he felt like he was familiar to him somehow… the person was short, almost about his height, and wore a nice black leather jacket with a zipper and some fur on his collar, and a nice pair of orange pants and a belt around his waist. But he couldn't really see the person's upper face because of the helmet.

"Boney… that person down there… I think I've seen him somewhere before." Lucas said as he continued to study the helmet wearing person.

" _Yeah, there is something familiar about his scent but I just can't figure it out."_ The dog said. _"Where have you seen this boy before?"_

"I think…" Lucas began thinking as an image of the forest fire and the river rapids flashed through his mind. "Someone saved me from the river… I think it was him…"

Before Boney could comment on that, a rat with a propeller on its neck suddenly zipped by and landed on Lucas's face, who panicked at the sudden contact and yelped while squirming around the vents. Boney began barking and trying to get the rat chimera off his human friend's face. Their struggles caused a ruckus and the entire grate and vent fell to the ground.

Lucas managed to throw the propeller rat off his face and the first thing he saw was the… Masked Man looking down at him as if surprised and shocked. "... Uhhh... hi…?" he nervously waved.

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: *Is looking at Fyre, who was currently being nommed on by the toothless Goodra* … Should I be worried?**

 **Donfyre: Y-yes, you should be veeery worried! DX *squirms around* C-can't you tell it to let go of me? And what are you doing bringing a giant Pokemon onto a Mother 3 AN?**

 **DarkFoxKit: Hey, you're a Pokemon in a Mother 3 AN. :P Anyways, while Fyre's busy with the slimy dragon, let's move on the reviews!**

 **Connor the speling pro: Ah, looks like we get you first this time! The chapter wasn't really short, it just wasn't as long as it could've been.**

 **I know you talked to me about cutting some scenes out, but I'm the type of person who likes putting scenes in while writing. It might be because of the anime I watched, but it just doesn't feel right cutting out scenes just because they're 'not really needed'. I find them quite enjoyable to both the writer and the reader. You don't always need EVERY little detail to provide for the story, sometimes it's just as important to have little things in the story to write about.**

 **Donfyre: Yeah, both of us really like the little details or things that we put in, but we know not to shove in TONS of it. And besides, that's why we also love the Mother series so much! They put lots of fun little details hidden around. c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: And Ionia, while 'she' may not be an immediate important character, she is one of the Magypsies Lucas is closer to. I like for them to have their little interaction when possible even if it doesn't seem all that important to the story. Different writers write in different ways though, so I can also see why you felt you needed to point this out. Anyways, onto the next review!**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: I'll let Fyre answer what was directed to him. As for Claus's point of view I did have more planned for him than I did with Lucas, but I'm hoping Part 2 will show that Lucas is just as fun to do as Claus. And yeah, this is when I gave Boney a dry humor personality. And I see you prefer calling me a kitty. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: Yeah, Lucas's chapters are pretty fun when they come around now and then. c: A-and noooo, I'm not trying to play hide and seek, I just sooometimes run away from Fox when she's- WAH! D-don't do that! *squirms around more in the Goodra's grip* C-can't you tell it to let me go? DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: Nah, I think it likes you. :) And now for the next review…**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan: Yeah, Lucas is worried for Claus and wants to make sure he's okay. And with Claus in his Commander outfit that should be an interesting encounter between the two of them, especially since this Claus isn't brainwashed.**

 **That guy who 'saved' Lucas is just a weird stalker I think. XD How does he know Lucas is about to walk into the cave in the first place? So I decided to just make the scene funnier that way and it's kinda what gave birth to Boney's dry sense of humor personality.**

 **Donfyre: Fox here actually loves the morning sun a LOT. Sometimes we're even listening to fitting music while writing scenes like that. XD But yeah, it's not really present much in Part 2 'cause things reeeaally start building up more.**

 **Monday don't get any love. *pouts* Anyways, nice to know you liked a lot of things here and how we're doing with the story so far!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Okay, these last two reviews are very short soooo… Bob: I'm glad you're excited for more. And Guest: That story is kinda canceled at the moment due to my co-writer for that being gone, sorry about that, but please don't leave a review just to tell me to continue another story.**

 **Donfyre: You're excited, Bob? Yay! c: And I hope you didn't just come on here to leave a "review" but didn't actually bother to read anything, Guest. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Okay, that's all the reviews for this chapter! *looks at Fyre to see the Goodra was licking him like a lollipop* Aww, that's cute! *takes a picture***

 **Donfyre: WAH! G-get rid of that! *squirms around more and finally pops out of the Goodra's arms, covered in slime* Bleh… at least I'm a Wooper. *looks over at Fox* Gimme that!**

 **DarkFoxKit: H-hey! This would make a great Holiday Card one day! Don't push that butto- *CRASH! The camera went static* See what you did? … Oy… I am DarkFoxKit, this is Donfyre, and even though you can't see us… we look forward to hearing from you!**

 **Donfyre: See all of yas later, readers! Now delete that-! ….. WAH! The Goodra's coming back for me! *a lot of crashes were heard in the background***


	13. Chapter 13: To Hide an Identity

**DarkFoxKit: Fyre? … What are you doing in that Jacuzzi? Get out! It's time for another AN!**

 **Donfyre: H-huh? Oh, er… you got the wrong Wooper! Fyre's uh…. busy somewhere… *happily sinks into the Jacuzzi* He shooould be back in a few hours though…**

 **DarkFoxKit: *is glaring at the lazy Wooper in the jacuzzi* Get out, NOW. *Turns the water to boiling hot***

 **Donfyre: O_O WAAAH! *leaps out and clings onto Fox's fur* H-hey, just because my name's Fyre doesn't mean I'm immune to being burned! …. W-whoops.**

 **DarkFoxKit: … Glad to see you've finally gotten out. *shakes the Wooper off* Now the readers are waiting for us to say something about the actual chapter! … Well it's a Claus chapter, finally, and Lucas finally gets to meet him as the Commander. :3**

 **Donfyre: *shakes the water off myself, getting in Fox's fur* A lot of you were wondering what would happen after this, and I'm not surprised, it was a pretty evil cliffhanger. c: But now you can see!**

 **DarkFoxKit: And it's pretty long, so you have a lot to enjoy! Alright, it's time to move on to the chapter! *begins thinking* Fyre… have we ever done the disclaimer?**

 **Donfyre: Uh… lemme check… Only you did it, twice, in chapters 1 and 3…. WE'RE GONNA GET SUUUED! DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: Oh hush! It IS called FANfiction site! I doubt we would get sued just for not doing the disclaimer for all the chapters! *grumbles* You wanna do it this time then?**

 **Donfyre: Ooh, really? Okey! None of us own any of the characters or settings presented in the story or anything related to such in the Mother/Earthbound series. That good?**

 **DarkFoxKit: *Drops him back into the Jacuzzi* Yup, that's good. :D**

* * *

 **Chapter 13: To Hide An Identity**

 _When I made it to Club Titiboo I had to put on my Commander's outfit so those stuffy bodyguards wouldn't stop me from checking out the entire place. I was careful to avoid rooms as some people are… enjoying each other a little TOO much. I mostly just checked around the crowded areas, like the auditorium. But while I was looking around here there was a sudden ruckus above me. I was about to shoot a PK Thunder up there to see if there was an intruder, but the entire thing suddenly fell in front of me… and what I saw was not an intruder but… my twin brother Lucas._

* * *

After throwing the propeller rat off his face, Lucas gave a nervous wave to Claus from the ground, whom he didn't recognize with the outfit and helmet on. "... Uhhh… hi…?"

"Lu- I mean…" Claus quickly caught himself from saying his brother's name out loud right then and there. He had no idea why or how the heck he had gotten in the club's attic, but he wanted to try and avoid him at all costs. Even just speaking to him felt dangerous. "Who are you? What are you doing in this club?"

"I uh… I was… looking for someone." Lucas said with a bit of a hesitance. "Have you seen someone who looks like me, about my size, wears similar clothing, green eyes and ginger colored hair?" The blond haired boy then blushed and quickly said, "I-I'm sorry, that was rude of me. M-my name is Lucas and uh… I um… I think you saved me before… during the forest fire… r-right?"

Boney grumbled as he shook himself from that fall. Claus's eyes widen as he just noticed Boney was here too, wearing some funny clothing. He realized it's going to be a lot harder to disguise his smell from the dog this close to him.

Claus backed up from the two of them, but tried not to look too nervous. "Erm… y-yes I had saved you from the forest fire several months ago. We and the Pigmasks were just saving some people from the renegade group who attacked the forest, and we saw you in the river since I… uh, happened to be there at the time."

"And I thank you for that." Lucas said as he gave a respective bow, making Claus a bit more uncomfortable getting such a formal gesture from his own brother. Lucas then stood back up and eyed him curiously. "But… you don't seem to wear the same uniforms as the Pigmasks do." Lucas said as he studied Claus curiously, making the helmet wearing boy even more nervous. "And you're a lot shorter than most of them are… not that I'm judging of course! It's just… uh… I've never seen a Pigmask without… well a pig's mask before."

Claus wondered if it was safe to tell him his position. If Lucas found out that he really was Claus, leading the Pigmask army… he wasn't sure how he would react. "I… I'm the Commander of the Pigmask army, and as far as I'm concerned… I don't think you belong in this area of the club."

"O-oh wait, please." Lucas quickly said. "I'm sorry I didn't know you were such a high ranking… um… officer…?" The boy wasn't sure what to call the Pigmasks and he just remembered hearing Kumatora calling them 'like the cops' before. "A-anyway I came here looking for my twin brother Claus, the boy I just described to you. I saw him get on a train back in Tazmily and this and the factory are the only two places I know that he could've possibly gone to. With all due respect I'm not leaving until I find him."

Claus froze up a little. He could try to shoo them away from the club, but he didn't like speaking in such a formal tone to his own _brother_ , and there was also the chance that Lucas or even Boney might get too suspicious. "A boy named Claus? Well uh…" Here, Claus involuntarily looked away. "I don't recall seeing someone like that here. Maybe you can go and check the factory nearby?" He hoped this would be enough to make Lucas leave for now.

But to Claus's chagrin, his blond haired brother shook his head and gave him a tired look. "He's not there. Sir… I didn't have any DP when I came to the factory. I had to make my way from Tazmily to here on foot. I even got a job at the factory just to find him, but he was not there. I had one heck of a time trying to _get_ here, so again I'm not leaving until I find him… uh… sir."

 _He… he already went to the factory_ and _walked here by foot?!_ Claus thought in shock. _I can't believe he did that much just to see where I've been going…_ Claus got a little lost in thought, not sure how to respond. "Um… sir?"

"O-oh, sorry, just… thinking." Claus said as a lame excuse. "Maybe your brother isn't here anymore… kid." He felt a little weird having to call his little brother that. "He sounds like someone who works at the factory, so you might've just missed him and he probably already went and returned home. I'll… provide a free ride back to Tazmily if you wish."

Lucas looked down in defeat. Claus frowned, he didn't like seeing his brother so defeated like that. "If I may ask… Lucas… Why are you so set on finding your brother? I mean it's not like he's in any danger, right?" He suddenly asked the blond haired boy.

"Huh? Why would you want to know that?" Lucas asked, raising his head a little. "You're the… leader of the Pigmasks, it's not like it really concerns you."

Claus sighed before he said, "Maybe not, but I am curious why would you go through such trouble for him. I'm sure your brother's fine if he's just working at the factory, yet you went on this tedious adventure just to see him? It boggles my mind, so humor me if you will."

"Well…" Lucas started. "I guess you could say I really care about him, he _is_ my twin brother. But he's been getting really distant lately, and he always goes on this 'job' that he never tells me or my family about. So I wanted to just… follow him and see what he was up to, but sadly I haven't seen him anywhere…"

"I see… But why not just talk to him then? Why go through all this trouble just to see what job he's doing?" Claus asked him again.

Lucas sighed, he didn't really want to tell everything to this 'stranger' even if he did save his life. "It's… really personal… I just want to make sure he's not involved with anything bad… and Claus just dodges the subject every time it's brought up anyway."

 _Great, guess trying to avoid the question didn't help._ Claus grumpily thought to himself. "Well maybe you should go home anyways. It's already late and I'm sure he went home by now."

Lucas sighed in defeat, and Boney gave a sad whimper next to him. It almost made Claus feel like revealing the truth, but he couldn't risk that. "I… guess so, since we haven't seen him _anywhere_ … Thanks anyways, sir."

* * *

"I-if you want I can give you that ride to Tazmily. I'm just about done here anyways so follow me." Claus said, beginning to walk out of the club, Lucas and Boney following from behind. Just as they were leaving, Claus saw a pink-haired waitress looking at Lucas in a weird way, almost as if she wanted to talk to him. She seemed kinda familiar to Claus, but he just continued to walk before he noticed Lucas wasn't following him anymore. "Hey, you gonna hurry up?"

To Claus's surprise, Lucas was looking at the pink-haired waitress too. _Do they know each other? I didn't expect Lucas to be THAT kind of person..._

"O-oh, sorry sir!" Lucas said. "I just, um… want to quickly talk to this waitress here, if you don't mind."

Claus was a little suspicious, but eventually nodded his head. "Alright, but make it quick." _Lucas the player, huh? Well that's new. Maybe he's changed more than I thought…_

Claus went outside and waited for his brother, though he couldn't help but wonder what could he be talking about with that waitress. His curiosity was piqued, he had never expected his timid brother to ever score a girl like that. _This is something I've gotta see!_

The young Commander looked back at the doors and went back in, slowly sneaking around the corner to see Lucas was whispering with that waitress girl. Because it was hard to hear them he dared to go a little bit closer until he could hear what they were saying.

"-rious Lucas. Didn't you sense it while you were near him?" The pink haired waitress said to Lucas.

Boney gave a small whine before Lucas said, "I… sensed something… was off, but it can't seriously be what we think it is. I mean who else could have it?"

The pink-haired waitress shook her head. "I didn't think there was another user of PK Love on the island except for you, Lucas. And even if he _did_ have it I don't know why me or the Magypsies didn't sense it earlier…"

 _Wait… this waitress… Kumatora? A-are they talking about me?_ Claus thought in slight worry. He was careful to not to get too distressed since it makes his PSI aura flare, so he tried his best to stay calm and listen.

"I don't understand… how could someone else who can use PK Love, or PSI at all for that matter, remain under the radar for so long?" Lucas frowned as he asked. "If he had used it at all wouldn't we have picked up on it? … Maybe his own PSI just awakened?"

Claus silently prayed. _Please don't notice that it didn't JUST wake up. Please! Please don't put two and two together that 'Claus' can use it too because he's Lucas's twin!_

Kumatora looked unsure of herself. "I… guess that could be it. It's kinda weird though… I wonder if the Pigmasks knew this Commander person has PSI powers in him, _I_ couldn't even sense anything in him that one time I met him during the forest fire." Then she thought about something. "Then again I was under some pretty big emotional stress. It's a lot harder sensing PSI signatures like that."

"Maybe he doesn't even know he can use PSI. Maybe that PSI fever was just something that passed to him." Lucas suggested. "His PSI aura felt weak, so maybe it did just awaken recently and he hadn't used it yet. Are you sure he even have PK Love?"

Claus wondered if he should interrupt their talk before they begin putting two and two together, it's already bad enough they know the Commander can use PSI let alone PK Love, it's only a matter of time before they connect it back to Claus himself. _I just hope Lucas doesn't know about that whole seven Needles legend yet._

Gathering some courage, he quickly stood up and walked over to them and spoke up. "Er, e-excuse me you two."

"Oh! I-it's you." Lucas said, jumping a little bit in surprise. Claus could now tell that the waitress really was Kumatora, since she was giving Claus that same suspicious frown that she gave him the last time they really talked with each other.

"I've been… waiting for quite some time. You might miss the next train if you don't hurry up." Claus said, trying to sound calm.

"O-oh, I didn't realize how long it's been." Lucas said sheepishly before looking back at Kumatora. "We can talk about this later I guess."

Kumatora just sighed before she said, "Fine, I'll see you later then."

* * *

The young Commander gave a silent gulp as Kumatora gave him one last glance before walking off. _Great, things just got a lot harder now. If these two talk they're bound to find_ something _out._

Lucas and Boney approached Claus, both looking rather tired but also a little bit nervous, maybe it's because they just found out he could use PSI too. The young Commander gave a sigh before he said, "What did you two-" Boney gave a whine, "-sorry, _three_ talked about? You seemed pretty engaged about something."

"Oh, just, um… stuff." Lucas said quietly. "She's a… friend of mine."

"A friend?" Claus asked. He didn't want to be _too_ intrusive, else he might risk even _more_ suspicion.

"Um, y-yeah. We haven't met each other in a long time, so we… got caught up on things. You know… just ordinary stuff people like to talk about..." Lucas said. Even if Claus hadn't eavesdropped he could still tell when his little brother was telling a lie.

" _Wow Lucas, why don't you just get a big neon sign that says 'I'M LYING!' or something?"_ Boney barked, rolling his eyes.

Lucas frowned at Boney, if the Commander could indeed use PSI then chances are he understood everything that Boney just said. "Errr… did you hear what my furry friend just said?"

Claus almost wanted to laugh at Boney's attitude, but managed to keep his composure. "Just a lot of barking. I'm surprised nobody suspected him being a dog wearing a shirt and a hat."

"O-oh, yeah." Lucas said, sounding a little disappointed. The two of them continued to the lift leading back down to the factory and the train station. Claus hoped that it would just be a silent walk from here to there, but it seemed like Lucas didn't want to stay silent, much to his chagrin.

"So, um… how were you chosen to be Commander? You seem kinda short and sound kinda young for someone in the Pigmasks… n-no offense, of course!" Lucas said awkwardly as they were riding the lift back down.

Claus already wished that his winged jetpack was fixed and on his back at this point, wanting nothing more than to fly away from his curious brother right now. In fact he's surprised Lucas hadn't recognized his voice yet. "I was…" Claus knew he had to make up a believable story on the spot and something close to the truth so he wouldn't have too much trouble remembering it. "... found… by a high ranking Pigmask. They took me in when I was lost in the forest a few years ago. I guess I became quite the prodigy since they made me their Commander."

"Did you… have any special talents? Something that made you stand out that they decided to make you Commander, like skills or powers?" Lucas asked, seeming more and more determined to get an answer.

Claus was starting to get more flustered by his constant questionings. "... Is there something you want to know?" The helmet wearing boy asked with a deadpanned tone.

" _Smooth Lucas, very smooth."_ Boney barked sarcastically.

Claus had to keep his composure and not break down laughing from his dog's comment. He didn't know that Boney had this much of an attitude! It kinda made him wish that he was able to openly talk with Boney without any risk.

"Um… n-no." Lucas quickly said. "I'm just… curious! Y-yeah, that's it."

"You seem awfully curious about the Commander of the ones you don't really trust." Claus said with a small frown. "If you want to know how I became the Commander that badly then just know it's because I worked hard and showed leadership, that's all. Is there anything _else_ you're curious about?"

"Um, that's it? No special powers or anything?" Lucas asked, almost desperately.

 _You never were good at interrogating, Lucas._ Claus thought. "If you count my skill as a Commander and my work ethic a 'special power', then yes."

Lucas frowned a bit as he thought to himself. _So I guess this means he doesn't know he can use PSI…?_ "Did you… have a fever recently, at all? One that gave you a really bad headache?"

The skyline had already reached the ground level and they were now walking towards the train station. Claus could not wait to get home and get Lucas off his back about this. "Why would you even ask me that?"

" _Seriously Lucas, that kind of question really did come out of the blue for him. Maybe you should've, oh I don't know, tried to have built up to it!"_ Boney grumbled and would've facepalmed if he had hands.

Claus was having trouble fighting a smile that was trying to get on his face. He had to put his hand over his mouth and fake a quick cough.

Lucas ruffled Boney's head a little before responding to Claus's question. "W-well, I was just, um… wondering. I thought you might have had a certain thing."

Claus decided not to ask what this "thing" was, or else he might be cornered into a really tight spot if Lucas said what he thought he would say. "Well, whatever it is, I'll just say that I don't have any kind of fever or sickness that you mentioned." Claus responded.

Lucas frowned again. _He's either lying or he really doesn't know he has PSI. Maybe his PSI is a special case…_

"Anyways, uh- Lucas was it? I can give you the DP to get back home. But I have to remain here a little longer, is that okay with you?" Claus said almost too quickly. There was no way he was going to ride the train all the way home with Lucas, for two reasons. One, Lucas will continue to interrogate him and two, he'd have a difficult time trying to get back into the house as Claus.

Lucas gave him a pout, "But I want to talk to you a bit more. Come on, please? It won't be too much trouble."

Claus was about to tell him 'no' when he froze, now captured in his twin brother's trap; the puppy dog pout. Not even Boney could rival Lucas's big, cute eyes, when he gives the puppy dog pout, nobody could resist it, especially not Claus. _No, no, no, no, no! I can't! Just tell him no! TELL HIM NO! JUST SAY N-_

"Alright fine, but only this once Lucas." Claus said to him. _THAT WASN'T A 'NO'! WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!?_

Lucas gave a big grin and said, "Thank you!"

Boney gave a small whine. _"Wow, not even the Commander of the Pigmask army can stand up to that puppy dog pout of yours Lucas."_

So now Claus found himself in a very difficult spot as he approached the train conductor. "For two and a dog."

"That'll be 300 DP each. Unless you want to ride the green tra-"

"No, the regular train is fine." Claus grumbled irritably, what is it with these conductors and green trains?

"Aww, let's try the green train. Maybe it's more comfortable than the regular one." Lucas suggested with a sweet smile.

Claus sighed, his brother always had a way to make him do what he wants, he's just too nice and sweet for Claus to say no. "Fine, we'll ride the green train, but only this once!"

"That'll be 600 DP then!" The conductor said with a big smile plastered on his face.

"Don't push it." The young Commander hissed at the conductor.

"R-right… s-sorry." He gulped as Claus handed him the money.

* * *

The green train soon arrived in the station and Claus had to admit… it did look a lot cooler than the usual orange train. The young Commander reluctantly got on board with his brother and dog and the three sat down next to each other, though Claus tried to scoot away for a bit, worried that Boney might smell his scent and Lucas might sense more of his PSI aura despite doing his best to suppress them.

Speaking of the blond haired boy, he was studying the young Commander again, making Claus nervous. The helmet wearing boy was trying not to fidget under his brother's curious yet intriguing stare. "Is there something on my face?"

"Oh sorry… it's just… I can't shake this feeling that…" Lucas began to say before shaking his head.

"... Is there something else you want to ask me?" Claus asked, knowing it would be inevitable and he couldn't refuse his sweet, timid brother.

"It's, uh, nothing…" Lucas replied after a while, frowning to himself a bit. He looked at Claus again. "So… what's your name?"

Claus froze at that, "... M-my name?" _Oh crap… think! Think! Think!_ "W-well I'm not really supposed to give my name as the Commander... so just call me that for now."

"Just Commander?" Lucas asked, looking a little dismayed. "That sounds too formal and stuffy… but okay, I guess I'll just call you that for now."

Claus was silently hoping that the train ride would just reach Tazmily soon. It didn't feel _this_ long before to get from the town to the factory!

" _Are you trying to make friends with him? He could be like 30 and just a midget, that'll be awkward."_ Boney commented.

Claus wanted to shoot the dog a dirty look for that, but held himself back.

Lucas frowned at Boney for saying that though, and continued to speak, still not finished with making friendly conversation. "Um… maybe I could meet you again some time? I still want to know where my brother keeps on going, and he has to be somewhere near the factory or that club… m-maybe you can help me!"

"Err…" Claus knew he better think of something good to say here. "M-maybe your brother was just… exploring there for a quick errand for his real job… y-you know, to pick something up… maybe you missed him when he went back."

" _Wow, the Commander of an army is flustered by a mere child."_ Boney wanted to laugh.

Claus had an unseen tick mark on his helmet before he snuck a small PK Thunder at the dog's tail behind the two, causing a surprising but harmless jolt going through the dog like static electricity.

Boney yipped in surprise, perking up suddenly. Lucas looked at the dog in concern. "Something wrong, boy?" he asked, petting him.

Boney gave a whine before looking at his tail. _"It felt like some electric bee stung me on the tail!"_

Claus put a gloved hand over his mouth to keep from laughing, but he still had to fake another cough. "Maybe he has fleas. Anyways maybe you'll find your brother back in Tazmily, I don't think I've ever seen anyone who looks like you with that ginger hair in the factory or the club."

Lucas frowned at the response, still petting Boney. "I still think my brother has something to do with that area. He's always talking about working at his 'job', and that's the only place where people get jobs that I can think of."

"... W-well then… I'll be sure to keep an eye on him." Claus said nervously. "... Well if that's all you're concerned with, let's just enjoy a nice and _quiet_ train ride back to Tazmily." _I swear he's going to catch me sooner or later like this._

"A-are you sure?" Lucas asked, looking disappointed. "I kinda wanted to-"

"Oh look! It's… beautiful scenery outside!" Claus quickly interrupted to get his brother to stop. He knew that he couldn't keep lying to his brother under this kind of pressure for very long.

"Huh? … We're in a cave." Lucas said with a sweatdrop. "I suppose the… walls are nice to look at… I guess…?" Then he smiled. "Hey, so do you-"

"Did you know cave walls could have certain minerals to them that lets them grow stuff like crystals?" The young and flustered Commander quickly said.

" _Do I smell sweat coming from you? Maybe you should take off your jacket."_ Boney barked to Claus.

Claus opened his mouth but quickly shut it, nearly catching himself from responding to the dog. Now that he thought about it, he was sweating a lot… this entire thing was making him a nervous wreck, and he just noticed that he was fidgeting with his hands while sitting there.

"Are you okay? You seem nervous about something." Lucas asked the Commander in concern. "Maybe you should take off your helmet."

"N-no, no, my helmet's fine." Claus quickly said and tried to clear his throat. He had been slightly toning down his voice to disguise it and make himself sound older than he actually is. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but you ask a lot of questions. Why are you asking me so many questions? I'm just a simple Commander to a simple army who just wants to help people, that. Is. ALL. Nothing _big_ or _special_ about that."

"Well I just find it, you know… interesting!" Lucas said. "Tazmily never really had an army or a big-shot commanding person. And you kinda sound young too, n-not that I mean anything by that. I just always thought that adults had to do this kind of big tasks."

"... Yeah, me too." Claus whispered to himself. "What makes you think I'm not an adult? … Okay yeah I'm a bit short, but it doesn't mean I'm not an adult."

" _You smell young to me too, even if I can't distinguish your smell because of that infernal chemical smell all over your body."_ Boney barked before Claus pushed the dog's snout away from him, a little more roughly than he intended to.

"Your dog has a very curious nose." Claus said with a frown. _And also a mouth. It's a good thing humans can't normally understand him._

"Oh yeah um, sorry about him." Lucas said, pulling the dog back to him, making Boney let out a small whine. "He can be a little… nosy at times, he's just curious at seeing a new person like you. He's usually more friendly towards younger people though…" As Lucas said this, he tilted his head at the young Commander.

"I can't tell if he's being friendly, just really curious and…" Claus narrowed his eyes as he remembered some of Boney's comments. "... have a really dry sense of hu- hair… you might want to condition him the next time you give him a bath." Claus quickly caught himself. _Can't believe I almost said dry sense of humor… he would've caught me for sure._

Boney whined as Lucas responded. "You think so? Maybe, you haven't had a bath in a few days, Boney."

" _What?! Why are you taking_ his _advice?"_ Boney whined in dismay. Claus had to stop himself from chuckling at the remark.

"He may have a point." Lucas chuckled as he patted Boney.

Claus looked out the window and sighed in relief when he saw Tazmily up ahead, they were almost there. "Well, we're just about here. It's been fun talking with you, you should get home before your family worries about you… kid."

"Aww… yeah, I guess." Lucas said, pouting a little. It looked like he enjoyed talking with the Commander on the train ride.

 _He enjoyed talking with me a little TOO much… I need to try and avoid him later…_ Claus thought to himself. _But then again if he and Kumatora starts to talk about me and that I might have PK Love… that's also going to cause some problems… I better talk to Fassad about this as soon as possible._

As soon as Lucas and Boney got off the train, they turned back to the young Commander, "Hey… are you coming out too?"

Claus zoomed out of the train and sped out of Lucas and Boney's sight faster than they could blink.

" _Wow… he zoomed off like no tomorrow. I thought he said something about being busy."_ Boney commented.

"I-I hope I didn't scare him…" Lucas frowned in concern.

* * *

Claus ran all the way back to his house, still in his Commander's outfit. The boy panted and groaned. "Why did Lucas have to show up right in front of me in Club Titiboo?"

Behind the young Commander, the door opened and a tall figure stood right behind him. Claus froze up as he inwardly groaned to himself. _Dad's right behind me, isn't he? … And I'm still in my Commander's outfit… wonderful, JUST WONDERFUL._

"... Excuse me, do you need something?" Claus's dad asked formally, kinda putting the boy off a bit.

Claus quickly turned around and tried to act formal right back, which felt unnatural for him to do with his own father. "Erm… s-sorry sir, I was just passing through…" _I hope Dad doesn't recognize me from the time I brought Lucas home unconscious._

"Hey… are you the same young man who brought my son home the day of the forest fire?" Flint asked, as if reading Claus's mind.

 _Ah crud. Is he psychic too!?_ "A-am I? I-I don't recall, sir." _Dang it Claus, you need to stop stammering!_ "I mean… I'm sure you have a very nice young boy as your son- but I'm afraid I don't remember everyone I had to save."

"Ah… that's unfortunate." Flint replied, tipping his cowboy hat. "Well, if you are him, I wanted to say thank you for helping my son."

Claus felt embarrassed, he never thought his Dad would thank him like this. "I uh… I'm glad I could help…"

Then the boy sensed Lucas coming closer and he knew he better book it soon. "W-well I better go now, so good luck with your son!" he ran behind the house and took off his helmet. _Note to self;_ _never come to Tazmily as the Commander alone._

He could see Lucas and Boney coming out of Tazmily and towards their house. Claus frantically took off the Commander's uniform he had on, luckily still having some regular clothes underneath. He liked to be able to keep some regular clothes under his uniform just in case. The ginger haired boy smiled in relief when he was back in his teal and yellow striped shirt and red shorts. But then another problem occurred to him… he was holding his uniform and helmet under his arms.

 _I hate my life right now._ Claus grumbled. The boy usually goes back to the base after his daily inspection with the factory or the club and places the uniform in his room there, but he didn't have time to go to the base and he had to get home quickly before Lucas got anymore bright ideas to find him. _Guess it's time to see just how stealthy I can be…_

Lucas and Boney ran up to the door where Flint was waiting while Claus was trying to find a way to hide until he can get into his room unnoticed. The ginger haired boy peeked out from behind the house to see Boney was going into his doghouse while Lucas was still talking to Flint about the Commander. Claus wasn't really listening to their conversation as he was trying to figure out the best way to get into the house to hide the uniform.

Claus snuck closer towards Boney, the dog is likely to pick up both his and the Commander's smell. He lifted his hand and whispered, "PK Fire." He shot off a tiny flame that would go out with the slightest of breeze, it was enough to catch Boney's attention as it flew past the dog's snout. Lucas turned too, feeling that PSI.

"What's wrong, Lucas?" Flint asked when Lucas turned as if searching for something.

Lucas frowned. "I thought I felt something… Can you come with me, Dad?" The two of them stepped outside while Claus hid behind the house. He heard Lucas, Flint, and Boney walking around outside trying to find out what happened.

 _Yes, it worked! Now I just need to…_ Claus worked his way to the side of the house, away from the three members of his family and closest to the front door. He began tiptoeing to the door, until…

" _Huh… Claus?"_ Claus heard Boney say.

 _Crap, he sniffed me out!_ Before any of them turned, Claus dashed inside the house and made a beeline towards his room. The boy panted a bit but couldn't afford to rest, he quickly opened the nearest closet and stuffed the uniform and helmet inside, but the helmet wouldn't fit. _AH! Come on!_

Panicking, the boy quickly looked around for any other places to hide the helmet, he then looked over at his bed and quickly stuffed it under.

* * *

"Claus is here, Boney?" He heard Lucas say as he and Flint began walking into the house.

 _Come on, get in!_ Claus was still trying to shove in the helmet under the bed before taking it out, figuring it was no good. The boy began playing 'hot potato' with the helmet as he heard his brother coming closer. _There's gotta be somewhere I can put this thing!_ The boy then grabbed his pillow and put the helmet underneath it.

"Claus?" The older brother heard Lucas say as he, Flint, and Boney came into the house. "Are you here?"

"U-um, yeah!" Claus hastily replied. "I just… ran here because I was so excited to come back!" He saw Boney and Lucas come running at him first, both of them pouncing him in a hug.

Claus yelped as he fell to the floor from the two pouncing him. Boney was licking his face and wagging his tail as Lucas cuddled with his brother. Claus groaned from the fall but then blushed from the attention he was getting, "W-whoa, take it easy you two! You act like you haven't seen me in a long time!"

" _We've been searching EVERYWHERE for you! Have you been home all this time?"_ Boney demanded despite knowing Claus couldn't understand him, he kept licking the boy's face.

"Where have you been, Claus?" Lucas asked in concern. "You weren't anywhere where we kept looking for you!"

"You were, uh, looking for me?" Claus asked, trying to act confused. "You didn't have to look for me, I was just at my job."

"But you won't tell us anything about your job, we got worried." Lucas said softly, still clinging on to his brother.

Flint tilted his hat before he said, "Claus, when did you get home? I was here the whole time and never saw you until now."

Claus stiffened but quickly said, "I decided not to disturb you since you were busy, Dad… so I climbed into the window."

"Uh… why would you be bothering Dad?" Lucas asked, slightly confused. "It's not like you would be doing something bad… right?"

"No, of course not, don't be silly Lucas! Why would I do something bad?" Claus quickly said as he sat up before realizing something he had forgotten… an important little detail too… he looked down at his bare wrist… no bracelet in sight. _Oh… fudge cake… Maybe Lucas won't notice anything, just gotta keep my PSI down and keep him talking._

"That's why we were worried!" Lucas said. "What if you were doing something bad at this job and we didn't know?"

"I'm not doing something bad Lucas, I promise." Claus reassured him. "Where were you looking for me?"

"Boney and I saw you get on a train. It only lead to the Clayman Factory and Club Titiboo, but we didn't see you anywhere." Lucas answered.

"Well I _was_ there… but I had to pick something up, that's all. I don't actually work at the factory or the club… I'm only 12 for crying out loud!" Claus said as he sounded exasperated.

"Oh… so you were only there for a little bit… Where _do_ you work then?" Lucas asked, wanting to know more.

Claus hesitated, not sure what he could tell Lucas here. If he lies then Lucas will find out for sure if he worked in said place. If he told the truth then Lucas may hate him. If he didn't say anything at all, Lucas will just keep following him until he's busted anyways. "Well… I uh…" then an idea hit him. "I didn't want to say this because I didn't think you or Dad would approve but… I'm working for the Pigmasks- but as something like a water boy. I just mostly bring them food, water and help them pack up for their missions."

"W-what?! You work for the Pigmasks?!" Lucas cried out, looking at his brother in horror.

"I-I'm really more of just an underground worker. Besides, they pay me pretty well and I don't think they're really out to hurt anyone." Claus quickly said.

Lucas still looked at his older brother with a great amount of concern, and their father, who was still listening in the background, looked unsure about this new information he just learned about his son.

"Look, I don't think they're all bad. Can you honestly tell me they're all bad, every single one of them?" Claus challenged.

"W-well…" Lucas looked a little conflicted as he thought of an answer. "Maybe not… but they're all still working for something that I don't think is a good thing!"

"What do you think they're working for anyway? Do you even know?" Claus asked, frowning at the accusation. While Lucas didn't know Claus is the Commander he felt stung by his brother's comment.

"I… well…" Lucas looked a little down after hearing his brother protecting the Pigmasks, when he always kept hearing the Magypsies and especially Kumatora say nothing but bad things about the army.

"Look Lucas, I'm just saying don't judge them until you know for sure what they're doing. This is why I didn't want to tell you… I knew you didn't like them…" Claus said lowly as he put his organic hand on his brother's shoulder. "But now that you know, could you please relax and not follow me everywhere I go? I don't want you getting hurt."

Lucas frowned a little, not wanting to say that he would stop. "... I'll still be worried about what happens to you though, especially now that you work for the Pigmasks."

Claus sighed before he said, "Just don't expect to find me so easily. The base is hidden from those who don't work with the Pigmasks. Besides… if you worked at the Clayman Factory wouldn't that mean _you_ worked for them too even for a short time?"

Lucas looked at his brother in shock, "Wh-wha- how did you…?"

"Word about a blond-haired kid named Lucas was working in the factory spread around pretty fast." Claus said, then he smiled and tried to change the subject. "So what's for dinner, Dad?"

 _What felt like a short day had turned into a long night. Lucas wouldn't stop looking at me as if I was a fragile object. Dad, although he didn't say much, gave me a look that meant he was worried too. If they're acting like this because I simply help the Pigmasks with things like food, then I don't want to know what they'll do if they ever found out the truth. But maybe Lucas's concern is a good thing; he didn't sense my PSI due to his worry. I just hope no Magypsies or that Kumatora chic pops up out of nowhere. By the time I got in bed I had remembered about my helmet being hidden behind the pillow. I sighed as I moved it under my blanket before passing out on the pillow. I was that tired, especially since I wasn't able to get into an Instant Revitalizing Machine. Yeah… onto… slumber land…_

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: Aww, looks like the two brothers are still sleeping together. How cute~ *looks over at Fyre* … No, that's not a shiny Wooper, he's just kinda burned from the boiling water. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: *pulls myself out and flops onto the floor* Did you… have to drop me when the water was still BOILING!? DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yes. :) How did you like this chapter?**

 **Donfyre: Uh… not sure why you're asking me that, that's something you should be asking the readers. *looks over at the camera* Aaaanyways, how didja guys think of the way Claus covered this up? Maybe convincing, maybe not at all?**

 **DarkFoxKit: I guess we'll be hearing about that in the reviews later. For now we shall answer back what we have!**

 **Connor the speling pro: We didn't mean we'd include ALL little details, just what we like to put in. And I like to believe some of these will still connect to the plot of the story.**

 **Yeah, of course we had to make up a new reason for Kumatora to be there, after all Duster didn't get swept away by the river and lost his memory in this story. ^^' Fyre, you want to take the next half?**

 **Donfyre: Alrighty! And we MAY have done those things about slipping in details about character's personalities without subconsciously thinking about it… but we never really went that deep into it or thought much about why it was very necessary… I guess it's both a mix of fear of going OOC and that sometimes the little details don't HAVE to have some kind of deep, intertwining message involved with it… I mean, I don't think most of us could explain as a young child why we had our favorite colors, but we can try doing that for the future!**

 **And cool, you like young adult literature too! c: But if you don't read stories for the plot… what do you read it for?**

 **DarkFoxKit: Some people read it for the characters or if it has stuff in it they like to see. I've never read the Hunger Games so I don't know anything about it, but it's good to know it's got deep stuff in it. Although it is a bit odd to read the story and not care about the plot at all, isn't it kind of the point?**

 **Guest: Well 'Guest' is a default name if you don't put one yourself. And thank you, I'm glad you like the personalities we give them. :D And I don't know about Fyre, but I'm flattered to know we inspire you.**

 **Donfyre: Maybe you should make a cool guest name for yourself. c: And of course I'm flattered too! Always nice to know that we helped give inspiration to another person.**

 **The Great-Me-sama: Yeah, that pretty much sums up what Claus was thinking right then and there. XD**

 **Donfyre: Preeeeetty much! XP And as for the other conversation, that'd actually be really funny if Lucas could smell Claus through the Commander's outfit… if it didn't keep reminding me of their final battle. ;A;**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: Uh… was that meant to be a joke? Although May 1st is my birthday, dunno if that was a coincidence or not. And I'm glad to see that Lucas's chapters aren't so boring anymore, at least I have better plans for him now. And… you called me Kitty KitKat before so… Heh, it almost sounds like Fyre's nickname makes him a Flareon. XP**

 **Donfyre: Nice to know that Lucas's chapters are pretty funny! c: And that nickname for me sounds too cute. ^^;**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan: Heh, glad you like our little performance. :D And don't worry, Fyre's fine, if not a little boiled. ^^'**

 **Well as you can see, Claus managed to slip out of it, the sneaky little boy. XD**

 **Hey, it's just one of those cartoon logic where it's obvious to the audience but the characters themselves are oblivious.**

 **That guy who stops Lucas at the train track? Yeah, I think he kinda is a stalker.**

 **I'm glad you like Part 2 so far!**

 **Donfyre: We've still gots a looot more in store later on, so get comfy! But yeah, it is nice to know you're liking the building up even though Part 2 is just getting started. And I'm fine! I'll just need some… very serious skin therapy…**

 **I am not sharing: Thanks, we post every Monday.**

 **Donfyre: What ain't you sharing? ;A;**

 **Bob: Where does it say the story is being canceled?**

 **Donfyre: I'm not sure what he's talking about either… Maybe when I said "delete that-" in the last AN? Though that's some serious misunderstanding if that's what you thought. ^^; This entire story's going till the end!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yeah, we never said we were gonna quit in the middle of it. Is it because I said the last chapter was cut or something? *scratches head* We didn't say it was being canceled.**

 **12courtney12: Hey great, always glad to have a new fan! :D**

 **Donfyre: Yep! Good to know you think it's really that great!**

 **Flun: Well now, it's a good thing you found ours then since I too had a newfound affection for Claus after playing the game the first time myself.**

 **It's really that unique and special? I think it's basically Mother 3 with a few new twists to it. ^^' But yeah, neither of them are the villain, both strongly believe they're doing what's best for the world. *looks at Fyre* You wanna take the rest of the review?**

 **Donfyre: Yep! And I think you and Fox could have some good discussions about Mother 3, she REALLY does love Claus, but it did take some time. XP Anyways, wow, this is your first time commenting here on the Internet? Well hiya then! c: Even now I can still get a little camera shy, but there are some really nice people here like Fox! And das okay, I come from a very small country too. :P**

 **Good to see you're excited for what comes next! Maybe you should watch your homework though. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Fyre here has strict parents so homework is important to him. Anyways looks like that's all the reviews for chapter 12. I think we're getting more attention for this story Fyre. :)**

 **Donfyre: Yeeeaah… now you've all learned that Fyre's parents are strict. XP And really, you think so? YAAAAAAY! *nuzzles Fox***

 **DarkFoxKit: I told you that you just needed to wait, people have to be interested in the story first and then sooner or later it'll start becoming more and more popular. *pats Fyre's head* Hmm… I should get some cream for that skin of yours. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: Yes, yes you should. But in the meantime, I'll stick with you 'cause your fur is soft and comfy. c: *lies down on Fox's back***

 **DarkFoxKit: H-hey! I am not that soft! … I know! Goodra's slime can be a good moisturizer! Ooooh Gooooooodraaaaaaa! *A big slimy purple dragon began running towards us***

 **Donfyre: O_O WAAAH! Why did you do that, Fox!? *jumps off and scurries away, grunting from the pain in my skin***

 **DarkFoxKit: *watches as the Goodra chased him around* Hee, hee, hee… Well now, that's it for today! We hope you enjoyed this chapter. I am DarkFoxKit, my co-writer who's running is Donfyre and we look forward to hearing from you!**


	14. Chapter 14: Magicant

**DarkFoxKit: *slowly comes out from the curtains, looking at the audience* Hey everyone, how's it going? :3 Oh if you're wondering what happened to Fyre, he's currently being eaten by Giygas… Huh? *looks back at the curtain* Oh, good news everyone! He made it out alive and is here!**

 **Donfyre: *slumps onto the stage* Ugh… you could have, oh I dunno, HELPED me! DX *he was covered in bandages***

 **DarkFoxKit: Are you kidding? I wasn't going anywhere NEAR Giygas! But hey, at least you made it out alive. ^^' Uh… you want to say hi to everyone?**

 **Donfyre: Huh? You started already? *looks out at the audience* WAH! T-this isn't my best presentation. But uhhh… hiya readers! ^^; We're back for another chapter!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Anyways, this chapter will introduce a formula that was rather absent in the actual game of Mother 3. Those of you who are fans of Earthbound or its predecessor Earthbound Beginnings then you might be familiar with it, though it may work differently than how it does in the actual games. *Is getting the first aid kit***

 **Donfyre: I still prefer the name "Mother" for the first game. XP But yeah, you guys should recognize what she's talking about if you played those games! But it does work a little differently, so be ready to accept a few changes we made. *looks over at Fox* Oh, you're actually gonna HELP me this time?**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yes, of course. :P Now hold still, this will sting! *takes out a bottle***

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Magicant**

… _. Hmm….? What? Where am I? Last thing I remember was falling asleep in my bed beside Lucas. When I sat up I found myself in a beautiful field of sunflowers. The sky was a nice shade of blue and… uh… pink…? There was a nice fountain in the center of the field. There were also a lot of those Magypsies, aside from Locria/Fassad- oh no wait, he's here too. There were also people from Tazmily around here. When I looked down I noticed my mechanical arm was gone… instead it was organic again. Where am I?_

" _Claus?" I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard someone behind me._

" _Lucas?" I turned to see it was indeed my brother. "Where are we? … What happened to my arm?"_

" _We're in Magicant, but…" Lucas was looking at me as if he couldn't believe I was here… wherever this is. "Are you real?"_

" _Wha-" I blinked before realizing this could be a dream, but this Lucas seems lucid… and so do I for that matter. But my instincts are telling me I should be very careful what I say here. "Uh… I'm as real as everyone else here." What in the world is a 'Magicant' anyway? "I was just… wondering… um… what's Magicant? Is that the name of this town?"_

" _Magicant…" Lucas repeated. He looked slightly disappointed at my answer, but explained anyways. "This is my world. What my mind sees and believes as a PSI user. But… you seem different, Claus. I've been here before, but you seem… living this time. Is it really you?"_

 _This is Lucas's world? … Did his PSI create this place? If so then why am I here? I shouldn't be here. When I didn't answer right away Lucas suddenly put a hand on my shoulder. "H-huh? What?" I blinked at him before remembering what he asked me. "Oh, how do I seem different to you? What do you mean by 'living'?"_

" _I… think I can sense something from you this time." Lucas said. He seemed so much more cryptic in this world… "This is my world, so the people here aren't real, and their lives feel empty. Others can enter my Magicant, but… that's something only PSI users can do."_

 _Lucas does seem familiar with this place… and he stated he had been here before. Is it possible that this was a part of his training with the Magypsies? Fassad never taught me anything like this. My PSI was used for combat or survival situations, never anything like…_ this _. Again because I was deep in thought I was slow on my answer. I noticed Lucas was giving me a concerned look. What am I even doing here? If this is Lucas's Magicant then how did I get in here? It's not like I used my PSI to get in here and I wouldn't know how to even if I wanted to anyway. So the me here is usually lifeless…? That doesn't make sense. I wish I knew how to act so Lucas doesn't get suspicious, but I haven't said anything to him yet and he's starting to get worried… what should I say to him?_

" _That's… interesting. I guess you made me have a little more life so you'd have somebody else to talk to while you're here." I said to him. "It'd make sense since you've been worried for your brother in real life, right?"_

 _Lucas looked disappointed and slightly confused. "Gave you more life? I don't know if that's possible… I could ask the Magypsies about it." He looked around at the others in his world, and I followed his gaze. I guess he was right, I could see all these other people here, but I could only feel the PSI coming from Lucas. "... The only others in Magicant who I felt were living were the Magypsies when they were teaching me about this world. I never had someone from my own mind being given life, except…"_

 _I raised an eyebrow at him… "Except whom?" Why did he hesitate there? Was it something bad?_

 _Lucas had a sad look as he spoke. "... Sometimes, very very rarely, I think I can see Mom, a living version of her. But she would always be really far away, so I would run to her to see her, b-but... she would be gone by the time I get to where she was."_

 _There was a strange wind suddenly that began blowing. I couldn't really feel a breeze but it was obvious that it was blowing. My shirt and hair were being blown by it, and so was Lucas's, yet strangely enough nobody else here seemed to feel it at all, it was as if it just affected the two of us. I felt a small bit of sadness from it… was it Lucas's winds of despair? I wasn't sure. "You saw Mom here sometimes… and you think she's real and not something your mind created? How can you be sure? Mom never had PSI, so how can you tell she's any different from everyone else here?"_

 _Lucas seemed a little unsure of himself too, but he still answered. "The Magypsies said that there isn't much difference between PSI and otherworldly events. You know what happened to Mom… and I want to believe that it's her… trying to visit me a-and…"_

 _I frowned as he looked like he wanted to cry. I reached out my hands to him, both organic, and took him in for a hug. I always felt like I should help my brother feel better and hugging him was always a good way to do so. "And maybe she is. If you think she's trying to talk to you then you should listen. Her voice is soft, like yours is Lucas, so maybe it's hard to hear her, but I'm sure she'll be able to get to you someday too." I felt his head laying on my chest as if trying to listen to my heartbeat._

" _Yeah… t-thanks." Lucas said softly. "... You really do feel alive, Claus. I want to believe that you're real too, that you came into my Magicant…"_

 _I felt like I should tell him… but I can't. "Yeah… but the real Claus doesn't have PSI, you know this. So coming in here would be impossible for him." I still don't understand how and why I'm here myself. Come to think of it… isn't this my first time sleeping beside my brother without my bracelet on? Could that be the reason why I'm here? It still doesn't make any sense._

 _Lucas didn't respond, but he seemed to become a little more detached as I hugged him. "I… guess so. Still… I don't know if my mind would be able to have you act so close to the real Claus… and there's still something I feel from you…"_

" _I'm not sure what you're feeling, but I hardly think there's anything special about me." I said with a sigh. "But whether I'm real or not I hate to see you sad." The winds began to die down a bit and I could swear I heard a soft familiar voice speaking but I couldn't understand the words._

" _... M-Mom?!" Lucas quickly perked up, looking around Magicant. I scanned the area too, could it really be…?_

 _I didn't see her but I felt like she was nearby somehow. I heard the words again, this time a little louder, but still couldn't make out what she's saying. Then the words came closer._

" _Don't… be… afraid…"_

 _Then I felt warm and gentle arms wrapping around the two of us. This felt familiar… I should've felt alert, and I should've felt threatened, but I only felt safe and secure like a small child in his mother's arms. Lucas didn't move either, he just looked really happy and at peace. By now the winds completely died down and the sun became warmer and brighter. The sunflowers around us bloomed and grew taller. I felt my eyelids grow heavy as I began to close them._

" _Sleep now… my sons…"_

* * *

When Claus opened his eyes again he found himself face-to-face with Lucas… and both his arms- the other was mechanical again- were wrapped around his brother as if in a hug.

 _Was that just a dream…?_ Claus thought, seeing as he was hugging his brother in the same way as they were in Magicant. _Or did I really go into Lucas's… "world"? Does he remember what happened too?_

Lucas slowly opened his bright blue eyes and noticed his brother's face before realizing he was being hugged. "Claus…?" Claus hadn't hugged him since before they lost their mother.

Claus gave a small chuckle trying to play it cool. "You… sounded like you were crying in your sleep, Lucas. Is everything okay?"

Lucas mumbled something that sounded to Claus like "Magicant". He then quickly perked up and looked at Claus with his eyes wide. "W-wait, you were in my dream with me! Don't you remember?"

 _So that really_ did _happen in Lucas's world… and he remembers too._ Claus thought, trying to keep a straight face on. "I was in your dream? That's… cool. Nothing bad happened to me, right?"

Lucas deflated a bit from Claus's reaction. "But you were there… weren't you? I mean were you actually there with me? Remember the sunflowers? The wind and the sun? And even Mom…?"

Claus sat up from his bed and frowned, "... That sounds like a pretty good dream to me. I guess you really miss Mom again." The boy smiled nervously.

Lucas looked even more disappointed. "But… I was sure you were there Claus, you felt real and…"

"I guess your dream must've been really vivid, Lucas." Claus quickly said before Lucas can give any more reasons.

The blond haired twin looked down in disappointment and Claus sighed, not liking to see his brother look so down about this. "Why do you care so much if I really was in your dream? I don't even think it's possible for me to go into your mind. Besides _you're_ the psychic around here, not me, don't you think that you-" The boy moved around a bit too much in his bed and accidentally hit something that landed on the floor with a loud CLANG. Claus froze as he remembered he had hidden his helmet under his blanket last night.

Lucas looked up in confusion. "Huh? What was that?" He began crawling to the side of the bed where he heard the clang, but Claus quickly blocked him.

"N-nothing! Just, uh… the important thing from my… job. I can't let anyone see it." he quickly said as an excuse.

"... What? Why would you have that in bed?" Lucas asked, confused by this.

"I kinda forgot to bring it in last night." Claus said quickly. "... I probably should do that now before I get fired! S-so I'll uh… go now!" he quickly fell down off his bed and grabbed his helmet before Lucas could see it and ran into the bathroom. _My uniform is still in the closet! How am I going to get them out now!?_

He peeked outside the bathroom to see what was going on. Lucas looked confused but shrugged and got off the bed. His dad was probably outside working and Boney was probably out there too. _Maybe… maybe I can find a place to hide my helmet outside without dad or Boney seeing me. Then I can run back in here and hide my uniform too…_

Claus looked over at the window in the back, maybe he can use that to sneak out. After combing his hair and washing his face and his mouth, the boy slowly opened the door again. Looks like Lucas is in the kitchen to make some breakfast. Good, now was the time to move. The ginger haired boy, his helmet under his arm, quickly made his way to the closet and opened it to get his uniform out. _Look at these wrinkles! I hope Dr. Andonuts could iron this out._ The boy quickly took his jacket, pants and boots out and opened the window.

Seeing no sign of Flint or Boney, Claus jumped out the window and quickly put on his attire. At least this way nobody will ask him why he has the Commander's outfit. Zipping up his jacket and putting on his helmet, Claus felt much more confident now and began making his way towards the graveyard where his ride to the Pigmask Base is waiting.

* * *

 _I have never felt so relieved to be out of my own house and back at the Pigmask Base. This secret felt like it was getting harder and harder to keep from Lucas lately, and it was starting to tear me up not to tell him the truth. Maybe Fassad would know what to do. Once I was at the base I made my way towards the back of the training room since the Magypsy usually liked to watch the new trainees._

* * *

"Commander!" Fassad yelled in surprise as he went over to Claus. "My goodness you're late! Where were you last night? And why is your uniform so wrinkly? Did you get into another scuffle?"

"I'm fine, Fassad. But something DID happen yesterday." Claus spoke tiredly as he began recounting his tale about Lucas finding him and having to take him home as well as hiding his uniform and helmet, and then about the Magicant chat. "What I don't understand was how the heck was I in Lucas's Magicant?"

"Magicant?" Fassad asked, frowning. "I never taught you about the concept… but you say you were in your brother's? Didn't you wear the bracelet that suppresses your PSI?"

"No… because I left the bracelet at the base. I usually go back to get it after I was finished with my daily check-up on the factory or the club, but like I told you before I wasn't able to get back last night." Claus told him. "I was fortunate Lucas didn't sense my PSI. Kumatora is already suspicious of the Commander having PK Love due to the similar magic energy inside me and Lucas."

"Already? Of course that PSI girl is…" Fassad seemed annoyed as he thought about the situation. "Well… I'm glad you reported this, but you need to be more careful in the future. If it was found out that the Commander of the Pigmasks could use PSI, especially PK Love…"

"I'd also still like to know more about what Magicant is." Claus reminded. "I was in my brother's last night, but I was able to throw him off this morning. I still don't understand how I went there simply because my PSI wasn't suppressed by the bracelet."

"... I suppose I can give you a little bit more of a lesson on PSI rather than just the fighting aspect of it." Fassad said with a sigh. "This is all unexpected, but I suppose it can be a little good if you knew… PSI is very unpredictable, it exists from someone's inner self to be able to control unnatural things in the world. That bracelet that Dr. Andonuts gave you not only suppresses others' ability to sense your PSI, but also controls the user's PSI from going off on it's own."

Claus frowned as Fassad explained this. "So… the bracelet suppresses people from sensing my PSI because the PSI aura in me can go off and affect others?"

"Yes, and I believe you already knew some of that before." Fassad said. "But the reason it made you go into your brother's Magicant is because your PSI was rampant at the time. Your PSI had reached out to your brother, who was in his Magicant at the time. And since you two are so compatible with each other, both of you even being able to use PK Love, it helped to bring you into the mind of your brother into his Magicant."

"Oh… so my PSI aura not being suppressed while I was asleep made me go into my brother's Magicant without even trying…" Claus summed up.

"Yes, and it's why you should be more careful and keep your bracelet with you more often, even if you don't feel like you'll need it at the time." Fassad said, almost chastising the young Commander. "I know you can't wear it when you're on duty, just in case you have to use your PSI, but at least keep it with you just in case. We can't have any more suspicions."

"Don't worry Fassad sir. I planned to take the bracelet with me from now on. Even as the Commander, just in case I run into Kumatora again, so she won't be suspicious of the Commander of the Pigmask army having PSI let alone PK Love." Claus said as he saluted. "But I'm worried if she and Lucas talks about it again they might connect it back to me."

"They can't prove you know PSI yet, they're just suspicious that you do." Fassad reassured the young Commander. "After all, while it's rare, there _is_ a chance a person can have a PSI aura by random but it's only a short burst rather than an actual PSI fever."

"Ah, that's good to know. The next time I see them I'll be sure to put on the bracelet right away." Claus said with determination. "Until then I will continue to investigate for any trouble or renegade groups. Sadly I haven't been accustomed to fighting in the air and fighting close up is hindering me without a proper weapon."

"Yes, you've stated this when you came back with your winged jetpack damaged. Speaking of which, Dr. Andonuts is finished fixing it. Said he made a few modifications to it so it wouldn't tear up as easily next time." Fassad said. "And he's also working on a new invention to help you with close combat, after all you can't always rely on your PSI and fists for every battle."

"That would be much appreciated Fassad sir." The helmet wearing boy said with another salute. "Should I go see him now or shall I come back after my daily inspection?"

"I think you should go check on him right now, just to get your gear back and ready." Fassad said. "Good luck for today, Commander… and be more careful."

"I will do my best not to get caught off guard like that again, not even by my own brother." Claus said before leaving the training room.

* * *

As Claus was walking through the hallway to get to Dr. Andonut's lab he frowned as he patted himself to see the wrinkles on his jacket. _I hope maybe one of the maid robots can fix this… I really like this jacket._

When the boy got into the familiar lab he could see the short but brilliant scientist fiddling with something. It looked like some small… gray doorknob? That's all Claus could see anyways, it looked like a broken piece of gray doorknob to him. "Dr. Andonuts?"

"Ah Commander! Good timing, I was just asking for you!" Dr. Andonuts said with a big excited grin on his face. "I believe I just finished making a breakthrough with a weapon powerful and fitting for the Commander of the Pigmask army!"

"Uh…" Claus looked at the little doorknob in the scientist's hands. "If you say so."

Dr. Andonuts took the metal square box from the table and said, "Your jetpack's all done and ready to go. I made it much tougher this time so it shouldn't short out so quickly."

"Thanks." Claus said as he allowed the short scientist man attach it to his back. The boy watched as his mecha arm attached a long black wire to the silver box behind him, it still felt a little strange to him. "Is that all? If so I will be on my way doctor."

Dr. Andonuts held out the door knob in front of Claus. "Actually there is one more thing you can take. I had just finished this and you can test it out to see how well it works. This is the weapon I was talking about earlier."

"Uh… I don't want to question you Dr. Andonuts, but what exactly is it?" Claus asked, looking at the 'broken doorknob'.

"Just hold it, here." Dr. Andonuts said, placing the stem part in Claus's hand. Claus wasn't sure what to do, and tossed it in the air a little.

"Okay, now just hold it in your hand. The weapon is power based on your PSI like your cannon arm, specifically that of your PK Thunder move. Just imagine that you're using the move again, but instead of discharging it into the atmosphere, discharge it right into the knob here, but not too much just enough for a good jolt."

"Uh… okay." Claus said, a little unsure. He summoned a PK Thunder, channelling it into his hand and onto the knob. The knob shook a little as it began to brighten and change from a dull gray into a bright yellow, it began to spark with electricity and before he knew it, Claus was wielding a full length sword with the blade looking like it was composed of lightning-clad steel. The 'doorknob' turned out to be the hilt of a sword.

"W-whoa!" Claus yelped in shock, caught off guard and nearly dropping the sword on himself.

"Aha, it worked! Careful there." Dr. Andonuts said, seeing Claus handle the sword dangerously. "This is your new Thunder Sword or as I like to call it; the Thunder Striker, Commander. I based it off of that Carpainter guy who attacked a couple of years ago. His Thunder dagger was amazing, so I based the technology from that onto the blade you hold now. It's also based on using your PSI."

Claus frowned at the lightning sword in his hands, even after he stopped using PK Thunder it was still a dangerous thunder sword. "Why is it still a sword? I stopped using my PK Thunder."

"Because it can retain itself depending on how much you put into it, like a battery. This way you won't have to constantly use your PSI during battle, it'll save you a lot of energy, Commander. And if you actually discharged your PK Thunder while using this sword it'll be much stronger, rivaling that of Gamma or even Omega level! Quite brilliant if I do say so myself." Dr. Andonuts said proudly.

"But this sword… It's not that I don't appreciate it... it's just… it looks just like the one that cut off my lower right arm." Claus said with a hint of resentment in his tone.

This caught Dr. Andonuts a little off guard. "Ah… I hadn't thought about the resent you may have felt towards the blade. But the past is in the past and _you_ can use the weapon now! It's on your side instead of against you."

"Unless I handle it poorly." Claus said quietly. "I'm more used to using sticks or staffs to fight. So I'm not sure if I can really use a sword properly."

"Then train with it, Commander. You won't have to fear the blade once you learn how to use it yourself." Dr. Andonuts said. "It's a very lethal but great weapon made only for you. It'd be a shame to not use it."

Claus looked at the doctor, he almost had the same puppy dog eyes as Lucas did and heaven above knows the poor boy had a weakness for those kinds of eyes. "... Fine, but if it doesn't work out I'm going back to the staffs."

"I thank you for giving it a chance, Commander. Oh and it's time for your check up anyways." Dr. Andonuts said suddenly.

"... Ugh." Claus grumbled. "Fine, but please get someone to iron out the wrinkles on my jacket."

"I believe Little Miss Marshmallow can get that done." Dr. Andonuts said.

"Little Miss… Marshmallow?" Claus paled as he remembered her. She once went insane on him for simply touching a Yo-Yo he found outside of Porky's room! He cringed as he remembered her… robotic claws… "... Can't it be someone else? Someone NOT insane?"

"Insane?!" Dr. Andonuts said, exasperated. "Little Miss Marshmallow is an absolute _beauty_. Now you wait there while I go get her." Before Claus could say anything, Dr. Andonuts had already dashed out of the room.

"... I'm skipping out on today's inspection." Claus said to himself before running out the door.

* * *

 _Well after that little mishap I allowed one of Master Porky's robots to iron out the coat and it was as good as new. Fassad decided to help me use the Thunder Striker during training. It was different from using something blunt to bash someone with, rather I have to slash or stab them. I learned how to utilize my PK Thunder more out of the other elements due to enhancing the Thunder Striker with it and learning how to make the most use of my PK Thunder._

 _It took a lot of time to get used to using the Thunder Striker sword in my hands. And even longer to learn to fight while in midair. I ran into the renegade group again a few times but they weren't too much trouble for me anymore. I always have my bracelet ready whenever I was near Kumatora in Club Titiboo. It seems she and Lucas haven't yet figured out I could use PSI thankfully, and now they're thinking it was only a fluke before. Good, being under the radar as more time passed has allowed me to slip by them easier._

 _For three months I've been training with the Thunder Striker and have gotten better at it. I've become a dangerous enemy to the renegade group. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if they're growing desperate… and as Fassad once told me… when people become desperate that's when they're the most dangerous. It was only later that evening as the sun was going down did I feel uneasy about something… I was coming home late today because of the massive amount of paperwork again, and that's when Fassad came in, looking all frantic._

* * *

"Fassad? What's wrong?" Claus asked, knowing it's never a good sign when the Magypsy looked panicky.

"Commander, you better get your gear ready for battle. The renegade group are attacking Tazmily in massive numbers, we're talking almost half of our entire army!" Fassad said frantically, and Claus acted immediately.

"Gather all available soldiers, get any medics you can, we need to get to Tazmily NOW!"

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: *is massaging Fyre's back* Oh hey, you guys are finally done with the chapter? I'm just helping Fyre here relax.**

 **Donfyre: *is trying to squirm out* I TOLD you I don't like massages! It's making that stinging feeling from that stupid medicine you gave me feel all worse! DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: Hey, I was just trying to rub the alcohol over your wounds, sheesh. *rolls eyes* Anyways… that cliffhanger there is just evil isn't it? XP Guess you gotta wait until next Monday to find out what happened. Anyways, I think it's time to answer the reviews.**

 **thekingdomheartsfan: Hey cool, nice timing on the birthday then, and happy birthday!**

 **Yeah, Claus unfortunately had his personality pretty much stripped away in the game for… reasons that Mother 3 fans should know. Although if you guys are reading this, it's already been spoiled for you.**

 **Donfyre: You love Boney's personality? Good! You have Fox here to thank for that. :3 And about Lucas's bad lying… yeah, get used to him being really shy all the time. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Boney's personality just kinda came out of nowhere though, I mean it's not like I planned for him to be like that, but it worked out pretty well. ^^ Okay, onto the next review.**

 **Connor the speling pro: That's a bit odd, to not really care for the plot. I mean when I read the story the plot is what usually brings me in, but to each their own. Well the rebuild and reborn question gets asked sometimes, but it doesn't become a big thing until much later on.**

 **Huh… you know I never did read any of those young adult fiction, I hear they're pretty good though. I usually don't like going out of character because it causes a lot of… fan rage among fans. ^^' And well yeah Earthbound people say the characters are flat because they don't really develop any personality, but I think it's fun that you can put in your own personality for them. It's just in Mother 3 the characters do have their own personalities so we do want to stay true to them.**

 **I guess it's in their genes to be bad liars. Yeah, Claus doesn't like that his brother can't know, but he's scared if he does then… well all heck would break loose between them. Well in one of the earlier sentences, it did state Claus was trying to disguise his voice a bit.**

 **The POVs aren't purely in their POV, just most of the time it is. I just thought it'd be nice to know what the other is thinking. Although we do that less in later chapters, but there may be times we switch their POVs for reasons. And thanks for supporting this story!**

 **Donfyre: To add on what Fox just said, yeah, the POV's going to be like that for quite a while. It's a little changed up later on so the thoughts are mostly only on the character we're focused on, but that's all the way in the really later chapters. Besides, it's third person, so as Fox said we like showing what some of the other characters are thinking. c:**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: You had review errors? And I'm glad to know the humor's good. I hope you're doing okay. D:**

 **Donfyre: Whaaaaaat? You're usually pretty sad? ;A; I hope you feel beeeetter. *nuzzles the review***

 **DarkFoxKit: … Good thing he's not a Pikachu, right? ^^' Anyways…**

 **12courtney12: Heh, Claus is just sometimes that predictable to his father. XD Reading while talking to your friends at the same time, huh? Yeah, I know how draining that can be. :P And don't we all usually have trouble focusing on school and opt to just doodle or draw? Well… I don't know about Fyre here, but he's a really good artist! And I'd like to see that picture you drew of Claus on the Drago.**

 **Donfyre: I'm not THAT good. ^^; But I do wanna see that picture too! Anyways, Claus is in a really bad situation with having to worry about everyone unintentionally seeming like they're going against him. XD And thanks for that! And you want to see more Lucas talking to "not his brother" commander? Okay then. :3**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yeah, that's really fun. :3 And now for our next review...**

 **The-Great-Me-sama: The twins do share a bed… I think. Well in the game it looks like they do. And that's a cute picture, Lucas hugging his brother's helmet in his sleep. :3**

 **Donfyre: Fox here reeeeaally loves the thought of those two hugging and being cute brothers to each other. XP**

 **DarkFoxKit: Hey! Watch what you say! You're making me sound like a yaoi fan, which I AM NOT! It's just they look cute sleeping in each other's arms is all! *Fyre was just snickering* SHUT UP! Now moving ON!**

 **Donfyre: Hee hee hee. :3**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan: Oh boy, this looks like a pretty long one. ^^' Good, we like long reviews. :D**

 **Yup, glad to know we didn't disappoint with the two brothers' awkward conversation. And like I said to Connor earlier; it was stated that Claus was disguising his voice.**

 **Of course Kumatora and Lucas would suspect him having PSI, as Kumatora had told Claus before that PSI users have an aura that distinguish them from normal people, which is why it's important Claus had that bracelet on to keep it hidden and suppressed. I think by the time Lucas does find out Claus is the commander, lots of things will happen and… ah, I better stop before I spoil too much. Okay Fyre, your turn!**

 **Donfyre: Alrighty! Yeah, Claus wasn't able to do the little important things like changing his clothes since he was kinda in a rush to get home first. XP**

 **Get used to stutterings. Loooots of stutterings. I usually put too many then are needed. ^^; But he did get away anyways!**

 **I'm sooooorry I can't get away from that Goodra, but its slime slows me down! But it's not here now, so no worries. c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: *is smirking in the shadows at that* Sure, you're perfectly safe from it now… right? Hee, hee, hee.**

 **Donfyre: *gulps* I'll pretend I didn't hear that… Anyways, we have quite a bit of cartoon logic in the story. Not really that many, nor is it very often, but they're there on some funny or quirky parts. :P**

 **Cool! Good to know you're liking it and looking forward to it so far! And it's fine you didn't review it right away, you left a nice long review when FFN wasn't being stupid. XP**

 **DarkFoxKit: I wonder what the heck happened? This used to be quite devastating to me back when I only PMed my friends instead of talking to them on Skype. But moving on!**

 **Flun: Yeah, kinda feel sorry for Claus here. ^^' And he's gonna have more bad days to come if you couldn't tell already. And no, he left his jetpack with Dr. Andonuts to get it fixed as this is the day after his jetpack got shot. But that would be quite hilarious to have the closet suddenly burst into flames, but also something Claus may not be able to cover up so well. ^^'**

 **Ah, well unlike in the game we can't exactly show how the DCMC is performing. I'm not a music or song writer by any means, so I'm afraid we won't be showing their performance. And yes, Duster is still the bass player as Kumatora had told Lucas. And yay, I'm so happy we resparked your interest in such a great game! :D And good luck imitating Duster's bass skills!**

 **Yeah, as the commander of an army you do have to be quick on both your feet and your mind, so there's no surprise there. Of course Claus isn't the best when it comes to lying to his brother, but it's a good thing Lucas was too caught up in his own world to notice too much.**

 **Donfyre: Responding to what Fox said earlier, yeah she's not really much of a music person. It's too baaaaad too, since I love music myself. DX Anyways, you think Boney will do that? Well I'll hold you to that, but Boney wiiiiill be an… interesting obstacle for Claus. :3**

 **Yep, right to the end with this story! Good to know you're eagerly awaiting. c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: Boney's becoming quite popular with this attitude of his. XD**

 **FanofFiction123: Hey you! Glad to see we can now distinguish you among the other Guests now.**

 **Seems like the anticipation made it seem like the week couldn't go by fast enough, huh? And good to hear you have reminders just so you can enjoy the next chapter. :3 Looks like Monday is finally getting some love again.**

 **Aw, you really think the chapters are perfect? Admittedly they have gotten much better once Donfyre here started helping me with them.**

 **Donfyre: Eh heh… ^^; Anyways, nice to know you're really liking the plot! Considering, well… keeping Claus alive was Fox's main idea for this fanfic. And have fun waiting in anticipation for Lucas to find that out. :P**

 **Thanks for the support! And… I think FanofFiction123 does just fine for you! c: Or, you know, just get an account. It's a lot easier for us that way. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: The account keeps it so nobody can take your name. :P Of course that means you can't take any name that someone else has either, so that may get a tad complicated. Anyways, last but not least…**

 **Guest #1: Well 'soon' is kind of… vague depending on how patient a person is. **

**Guest #2: And other guest, uh… thanks for saying it's a good story!**

 **Donfyre: Wow… that all of them?**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yup! No worries, it only took us almost two hours to do it all. c: And look, your injuries are gone, thank you fast healing Potions!**

 **Donfyre: It did take us quite a while. ^^; … Oh, I'm healed? YAAAY! *jumps onto my feet* Something always seems to happen to me every AN.**

 ***Suddenly familiar slime began dripping on Fyre's head.***

 **DarkFoxKit: Uh Fyre… I think your slimy friend is back.**

 **Donfyre: …. I spoke too soon. DX**

 ***The Goodra grabbed Fyre and began crushing him in a hug before licking his head***

 **DarkFoxKit: … Well now! While those two… catch up, I believe it's time for us to sign off until next Monday! I am DarkFoxKit, my co-writer that is most likely about to get eaten is Donfyre and we look forward to hearing from you!**

 **Donfyre: Eaten!? Y-YOU NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOU- *Fox quickly closed the curtains***


	15. Chapter 15: To Defend Tazmily

**DarkFoxKit: *is fishing in the pond for something* Come on… just one little nibble… *something nibbled* Ah-ha! I got something! *Fishes out a rare shiny Dratini* Oh you're mine now! *takes out a Poke Ball***

 **Donfyre: *suddenly drops down in front of Fox* What're you dooooing? We have to start the AN for Rebuild or to be Reborn! *there was a sudden splash behind me* Huh… what was that? Looked kinda pinkish…**

 ***Dratini ran away***

 **DarkFoxKit: *twitch* O_e …. It… ran… AWAY.**

 **Donfyre: Yeah, and you're also late for the AN. That's not liiiike you to do that in exchange for relaxing and catching some random fishies. Now come on!**

 **DarkFoxKit: I… was NOT relaxing. I was fishing for a Dratini in the Safari Zone and I got a shiny one and YOU MADE IT RUN AWAY!**

 **Donfyre: ….. That was a SHINY Dratini? *sweatdrops***

 **DarkFoxKit: … GRAAAAAAAH! *lungs at Donfyre***

 ***Static***

 **?: We interrupt this program due to some technical difficulties, please standby.**

 ***You can hear screaming and things breaking in the background***

 ***Static***

 **DarkFoxKit: *panting* … Okay… I apologize… ladies and gentlemen… but uh… yeah… here's another chapter for Rebuild and Reborn. Bet ya'll have been anticipating for this since last week's cliffhanger, huh?**

 **Donfyre: *his voice was heard somewhere out of the camera, sounding ragged* Y-yep… left the chapter off in a really tense spot. But there'll be lotsa action to make up for the wait!**

 ***The camera turned to Donfyre, who looked… pretty much like a broken ragdoll***

 **DarkFoxKit: Ah haaa…. *turns the camera away from him* I'll… fix him up. Anyways, we've held you up long enough. Go on, enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 **Chapter 15: To Defend Tazmily**

 _Just three more months… until our birthday. Claus always stays home during that day to celebrate and spend time with me, Dad and Boney. I want to give him something nice this year. I felt bad that I gave Claus a hard time for working with the Pigmasks, but maybe he's right… maybe they're not all bad. The Commander seemed pretty nice, if not a bit shy. But Kumatora said she doesn't feel any PSI from him anymore… maybe it was only a fluke after all. The Claus that felt so real to me in my Magicant hadn't shown up again… it made me feel lonely. I've been helping Dad around the house since Claus is gone for most of the day. I just wish things could go back to how they used to be. I missed always playing with my twin brother everyday and everywhere we went together._

* * *

"Hey Lucas, we got some orders for sheep wool down at Thomas's shop. Customers want to make them into coats for this coming winter." Flint said to his blond haired son. "Think you could deliver some?"

"Sure Dad, I'll get right on it." Lucas said with a nod.

The boy took several sheep wools and put them into his bag and he looked over at Boney. "You want to come with me, boy?"

 _"Sure, I could use the exercise."_ Boney barked as he walked over to Lucas.

Lucas was always glad to have Boney by his side. Ever since Kumatora and Duster have been busy with Club Titiboo for three months straight and Claus has been gone for almost the whole day since a year and a half, he's been feeling lonely. The two of them head into town to make the delivery.

Fuel was walking by and waved to Lucas. "Hey Lucas, out for another delivery today?"

"Yup. How have you and your Dad been doing, Fuel?" Lucas asked the boy about his age.

"We've been doing a lot better. Dad and I managed to finish rebuilding the house since that forest fire several months ago. The forest is starting to recover too." Fuel said with a cheery smile. "The animals are coming back, but most of them are chimeras."

"Well that's good. At least we didn't lose anybody during that forest fire." Lucas said in relief, remembering how close he came to losing Fuel in there.

"Yeah. Anyways I've got a job at the bakery, Angie's going to show me how to make bread." Fuel said with a dreamy smile. "And she's really cute."

Lucas smiled. Angie is the daughter of the owner of the bakery... and Fuel had a crush on her. "Well good luck with her, and the job Fuel."

"Thanks Lucas!" Fuel smiled. "I'll see you later."

"Okay, bye Fuel." Lucas waved as the brown haired boy went towards the bakery.

" _Looks like the love bug bit him. Too bad Angie doesn't seem all that interested in him."_ Boney barked.

"Oh Boney, be nice. That's still rude even if he can't understand you." Lucas chastised the dog.

" _It's not my problem if she doesn't return his feelings."_ Boney shrugged, or as much as a dog could shrug.

"You know if Claus ever understands you I have a feeling you two would be the greatest pranksters in Tazmily." Lucas sighed as he walked into Thomas's shop.

* * *

Thomas himself looked eccentric at seeing the young boy. "Ah Lucas! I'm so glad you're here, you wouldn't believe all the orders I've been getting for sheep wool lately! I hear this winter's going to be a cold one, so everyone's all up and arms about it."

"Yeah, there's been news going around about a possible big blizzard coming to town in a few months." Lucas said as he took out the sheep wools from his bag.

"And nobody wants to take any chances!" Thomas said as he began putting the sheep wools into boxes, probably ready to be delivered.

"Wow, I hope we have enough wools for everyone." Lucas said with a sweatdrop.

"Yeah, me too." Thomas sighed. "Oh and here's your pay for the sheep wool." He handed Lucas a decent sized bag of DP.

"Thanks." Lucas said. "Good luck with everyone."

" _Looks to me people are getting all worked up over nothing. It's not like we hadn't survived harsh winters before and with technology getting better couldn't someone invent some kind of… I don't know, heater or something?"_ Boney gruffed as he scratched his stomach a bit with his back leg.

"Well we don't have that yet so everyone's gotta go with what we've got." Lucas said to Boney. "I guess we could walk around Tazmily a bit, see how everyone's doing."

" _Whatever. But if that stray dog decides to challenge me again I'm not holding back."_ Boney complained.

"No Boney I don't want to have to drag you out of a dog fight and get in trouble for it _again_. Seriously I had to use PK Lifeup and Healing twice because of that." Lucas grumbled. "Not to mention I had to pay for collateral damage."

" _That dog was asking for it and you know it."_ Boney barked.

* * *

The two of them walked around Tazmily, feeling the village changing more and more every day. It was feeling more and more like a strange town to Lucas than Tazmily, but he was trying to adjust along with the changes since the newer technology were helpful. It's just when his mother died the village had changed, it's almost like Tazmily had died with her.

Lucas sighed and almost decided to go back home when he suddenly had that uneasy feeling again- the same feeling he had just before the forest fire incident. This made Lucas worry before everything around him froze again, day and night shifting as the area around him became empty, even Boney was gone too. Looking ahead, Lucas could see that figure again. He still couldn't make out who they were, but they seem to be trying to tell Lucas something… almost… like a warning of some kind.

Lucas wished he knew what the other was saying, or that they come closer so he could see them. He couldn't speak and he found himself frozen on spot, just like before. The figure didn't move, but he could almost feel like it's trying to warn him something bad is about to happen. Then he caught the figure's eye, he couldn't see its right eye, but its left eye was glowing a crimson red, it creeped him out. The figure moved its arm and was pointing at the red eye before it disappeared and the village went back to its busy, bright, normal self. The people returned and so did Boney, who was whining at Lucas.

" _Lucas, what's wrong? You look like you're out of it. Maybe we should go home, you don't look so good."_ The brown dog whined.

Lucas blinked and felt a sudden shiver down his spine. "Something's wrong, Boney. I'm worried something really bad is going to happen soon. Oh... where is Claus? I don't want him to be gone if this something happens soon..."

" _Are you sure you're not just being paranoid?"_ Boney asked.

"I don't think so. The last time I had an uneasy feeling like this was when the entire forest was on fire." Lucas said as he began to pale. "I don't like this."

" _Well if you're right and it is a warning, then what can we do? We don't even know WHAT'S coming!"_ The dog whined. _"If it's something big how would we be able to prepare for it?"_

"I-I don't know, but we gotta prepare for anything." Lucas said quickly.

" _Yeah, good luck with that. Maybe it won't even be a fire this time, maybe it'll be a flood or maybe an earthquake."_ Boney said sarcastically.

These things were _not_ helping Lucas at all. "What if it's another attack? Kumatora isn't here and neither is Duster, they're still back at Club Titiboo!"

" _Well if the Pigmasks are planning to attack don't you think Kumatora and Duster would know? I mean they ARE there to spy on them after all."_ Boney said, hoping to calm down the 12-almost-13-year old-boy.

* * *

Suddenly animals began running into the village, chimeras included. Lucas and Boney turned to see people starting to panic as animals and chimeras were running amok, causing a mini-stampede. It's a good thing these were small animals.

"What's going on?" Lucas asked out loud as everyone else were trying to get the animals to go away.

" _I think something spooked these animals."_ Boney barked, sounding grim before he began growling. _"Something's coming and it's not friendly."_

Lucas didn't know what to do, all he could was twiddle his fingers nervously as he watched the villagers around him either panicking or trying to shoo the animals and chimeras away. The boy didn't bother trying to go back home, his father would come out here soon enough once he hears the panicking and stampede anyways.

Soon small animals weren't the only things running amok in the village, bigger animals like boars and cows were starting to run in. The bigger animals were causing a lot more damage than the smaller animals. Lucas didn't know what to do, he could talk to animals but there were too many of them and they were all panicking too much to listen, and he couldn't hear their garbled voices while they're shrieking in fear anyway.

Boney began barking loudly and growling, he wasn't talking, more like warning of more incoming danger.

Lucas's eyes widen as he gasped when he saw the familiar green giant lizard. The Drago roared before stomping into the village along with its child, which have grown considerably since Lucas last saw it. The child Drago was almost bigger than Flint.

A monkey ran over to Lucas and Boney, most likely remembering them. The boy knew this was Salsa the minute he saw the familiar collar on its neck. _"Danger! There's danger coming! It's taken out our homes! They're taking everyone! It's approaching this town!"_

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Salsa, what's coming?" Lucas asked, hoping to get the monkey to calm down enough to explain what's coming their way.

The monkey didn't have to explain, because there were loud and heavy footsteps coming their way. It was loud enough to grab everyone's attention. The animals were still running the opposite direction in a panicked frenzy. Lucas frowned nervously when he saw a white Pigmask coming into view… but that's not all… there were more, so much more. Pigmasks of different colors; the majority being pink, blue, green and white were marching into the little town. There were so many of these Pigmasks that Lucas could swear they're surrounded. There were tanks among the army. Lucas looked around, trying to see if the short and- possibly young- Commander was among them, but he didn't see a trace of him.

Many of the animals had already ran away from Tazmily, but the few that were still here during the surrounding all huddled up with the people of Tazmily. The people also huddled up with each other. Lucas realized it's as if they're being herded together like a bunch of sheep. Salsa and Boney were right next to Lucas, and Lucas caught his father's cowboy hat in the crowd, so Flint was here too.

The Pigmasks all surrounded and crowded everyone into one spot. The adults were glaring, the children were sobbing, crying and shaking behind their parents, the animals were scared stiff, the usually aggressive chimeras were the same. Lucas knew his Dad was here among the crowd, but he didn't dare move from his spot. He was just glad Boney and Salsa were there with him.

* * *

One of the white Pigmasks spoke up, "Attention all Tazmily residents. We have grown impatient at finding what we've been looking for, for the past decade. Time is running out and we can't afford to wait any longer. We will now demand for your full cooperation in order to root out the PK Love users."

Lucas felt his heart drop to his stomach and his face paled. Boney, knowing Lucas can use PK Love, stood in front of the boy protectively but didn't bark or growl, not wanting to gain any unwanted attention especially to his one of his best friends. Salsa silently climbed on on Lucas's shoulder, feeling too nervous to stand on the ground and wanted to be beside someone. The rest of the villagers were whispering among themselves about what the Pigmask was talking about and why were they trapping them like this?

"Enough!" The white Pigmask snapped, shutting everyone up and bringing their attention back to him. "Whether you know it or not, he is indeed among you. There are two of them, and we _will_ weed them out no matter what. However, one of them is far too strong for us to handle individually, and he's hauled up in hiding. So we'll lure him out, one way or another. We can do this easily and without harm if you would all cooperate and hand over the one who can use PK Love among you."

Nobody moved or made a sound, it was dead silence among the crowd. Lucas felt like he wanted to throw up, everyone was in danger because of him, but what surprised him the most was that there was another PK Love user and apparently he lived in Tazmily… Unfortunately, Lucas didn't have time to ponder about this right now, he just wants this to pass as harmless and quickly as possible first.

"PK Love user, if you do not step forward now then we will be forced to use a more… broader lure to fish out the strong one." The white Pigmask said with a sick sadistic tone in his voice.

When nobody moved again, the white Pigmask nodded to another. The other Pigmask was green and he grabbed a little girl from the crowd, she screamed. "H-hey! L-let me go! M-Mommy!"

"A-Angie!" Lucas heard Fuel and a woman- presumingly her mother's- voice. The boy felt sick at seeing this.

"We will be sure to torture everyone here- men, women and children- until we get what we want!" The white Pigmask warned.

The green Pigmask slapped the poor girl, she screamed and began crying. The woman screeched as she ran over to them to try and tear her daughter away from them. "Leave her alone! Leave my daughter alone you brutes!"

"Get back to where you were woman, or we will do the same to you but much more painful." The green Pigmask snapped as he took out a solid looking metal club. One hit from that could bust the lady's skull.

Lucas's eyes widen, he couldn't take this anymore. "STOP IT! Don't hurt them!" He stepped forward, moving Boney out of his way and Salsa jumped down from his shoulder.

"Oh? Now this little boy wants to be a hero?" The white Pigmask snickered.

Lucas glared as he tried to stop his tears from falling from his blue eyes. "No, just please stop! I… I'm the one you want. I can use PK Love and I'll go with you, just please stop hurting these people!"

"Oh, so it's you, huh?" The white Pigmask said in an intrigued tone. "Well then, looks like we've got our star."

"No." A strong and firm voice suddenly spoke up from the crowd.

Lucas knew that voice, he shook his head. "No! Dad stay out of this! I have to do this or they'll hurt-"

"They'll hurt you and everyone no matter what you do, son." Flint said, interrupting Lucas as he stepped beside Lucas. "If they want anyone here then they're going to have to get through me. I'm not going to let anyone take my son away."

"You're a stubborn old goat." The white Pigmask snickered. "You're just one old school middle aged man, what could you possibly do to an army with advanced tanks and weaponry?"

"You may have me outnumbered and outmatched, but I will not stand by and let you kidnap my son and terrorize the people of this village. I will fight to my last breath if I have to, to protect them." Flint said calmly.

"Dad no, please!" Lucas begged his father. "I don't want you to get hurt or die!"

" _I'm not going to let them take you either Lucas. I am your guard dog, you are an important part of my pack, and I will protect you no matter what!"_ Boney growled as he stood beside Lucas.

"I won't let you hurt my friend!" Another voice spoke up. This time it was Fuel, the boy ran over to his brother's side. "You hurt Angie, but I won't let you hurt Lucas too!"

"That's right, we're not going down without a fight. You want the boy? You're going to have to go through us." Fuel's dad, Lighter, said firmly as he stood beside his son.

Soon the other villagers began growing their own backbone, they all began standing firm. "We won't let you take us without a fight!" they all shouted.

"Fine then, it looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way." The white Pigmask growled, sounding irritated.

* * *

The Pigmasks readied their weapons and all heck broke loose. The villagers were fighting the army with everything they've got, any weapons they can get their hands on. Rocks, sticks, branches, even throwing dirt from the ground. Surprisingly animals and chimers were helping the villagers fight back too, even the Dragos.

Lucas knew what he had to do; he had to fight to defend Tazmily from these porkers! The boy's finger sparked a deadly blue psychic energy as the tanks began rolling in. Nobody in this village could handle such things, nobody except maybe a PSI user. "PK LOVE!"

Not bothering to hold back, Lucas let loose his devastating blue psychic energy as it exploded hexagonally at the tanks, not destroying them but giving them a good thrashing. Lucas grabbed a nearby thick stick as it looked like it could hit the hardest in the immediate area, and he used it to swing at the Pigmasks near him. Boney stayed close to Lucas and tackled any Pigmasks that were close and tried to take Lucas. Salsa screeched as he jumped on Lucas's head and scratching wildly as a blue Pigmask that was about to grab Lucas from behind.

Flint and Lighter both held heavy and strong 2x4s, they used that to their advantage and were the heavy hitters against the army. The children were doing their best to fight back too, they are pretty creative with their ways, like using a banana skin to slip up the soldiers and then whacking them with their mother's frying pan. Fuel helped Angie up and was trying his best to keep her safe as more Pigmasks tried to attack.

"Shield!" Lucas was doing his best to try and shield everyone, but he could only shield one at a time and using it takes too much out of him.

" _Lucas, save your energy for dealing with these guys!"_ Boney barked at him before biting a nearby pink Pigmask in the leg.

"Right… I'm going to need all the advantages I can get. PK Offense Up!" Lucas's body glowed orange for a few seconds and he felt his strength increasing as the psychic energy temporarily made him stronger.

Lucas swung his stick weapon at more incoming Pigmasks, they all oinked in pain. More tried to gang up on him, but Lucas managed to shake them off before slamming his stick down at them. Several tanks were coming in and they were firing cannonballs, destroying nearby houses. Lucas could see people were falling in pain. The villagers were not trained to be fighters, so they were getting wiped out easily. It saddened Lucas that so many of them were children and they were hurt.

His heart aching for the people he cared about, Lucas glared angrily at the incoming tanks. "PK LOVE!" The blue hexagon psychic energy exploded on every tank he could see, causing more damage than before. It wasn't anything big like beta level, but it certainly was powerful for an alpha level.

But the tanks were strong and they were still coming. More and more people were falling like flies. Salsa was doing his best to distracted the soldiers by dancing around while Flint or Lighter comes up and knocks them out.

"You think you can best me? Ha! I may be old but I'm far from helpless!" Lucas heard someone shouting. It was old man Wess, Duster's father.

Wess was running pretty fast for someone his age, and he was throwing Thunder Bombs after Thunder Bombs from his somehow 'never-ending' supply. This was definitely helping as nobody else on their side had access to such weapons.

But soon more of those tanks were coming in, and the Pigmasks were far from out. They were still much more stronger and durable than the people of Tazmily. Lucas could not keep using his PSI forever and he can only do so much damage on his own. Boney tackled another Pigmask down, only to get shot by a laser and sent back a few feet. "B-Boney!" Lucas cried for his loyal furry friend.

One of the tanks got in close to Lucas and looked ready to fire a deadly cannonball at him. Lucas glared as he stood his ground. "PK Defense Up!"

The tank fired and Lucas was shot back by the heavy cannonball, but thankfully the shield and defense up kept him from taking too much damage. Lucas hurried over to Boney and put his hand on him. "PK Lifeup alpha."

A green aura glowed over the dog's body and Boney blinked open his eyes and stood back up on all fours. _"Lucas look out!"_

A green Pigmask had snuck up on behind him and kicked him away before shooting a laser at him. Lucas yelped and hissed in pain, but ran forward to swing the stick at the Pigmask. Another tank was coming in, Lucas was tired and he was getting hurt, he didn't know how much longer he or the people of Tazmily could keep this up.

* * *

"PK THUNDER!" A lightning bolt struck down at the tank, causing it to start smoking. "Hey Lucas, don't hog all the fun now!"

Lucas's face bright up. "Kumatora! Duster! Oh am I glad to see you!"

"Yeah, looks like we haven't gotten here a moment too soon." Duster said with a frown.

"I don't get it. The Pigmasks didn't seem like they were planning anything, so why the sudden attack?" Kumatora growled. "It doesn't matter, they've finally shown their true colors and we're here to take them down!"

Lucas got back up on his feet, he still had plenty of fight left in him and he knew it was up to them to protect Tazmily. Boney barked and growled, baring his claws and fangs, obviously ready for more himself. The four of them charged into battle.

The army around them was many and the white Pigmasks were definitely the hardest to fight against. Lucas knew he should leave them to Kumatora and Duster, the best he could handle were the blue and pink ones. Salsa joined in the fight to help distract the Pigmasks by throwing mud over their eyeholes and hindering them. Lucas's fingers sparked as he used smaller portions of PK Love, he had learned he could use bits and pieces of it as its own kind of mini PSI attack if handled right and it didn't consume as much PSI as a full on PK Love would do. Lucas pointed his sparking finger at an incoming tank and left a deep hole there, messing it up subtly from the inside.

Lucas jumped away as Kumatora hit the tank with her PK Thunder, she's able to do a beta level, and the hole became much more deadly as the lightning was able to strike into it, destroying it from the inside out including the Pigmask inside- who came out all charcoaled before passing out on the ground.

Boney pounced and tackled more Pigmasks down before jumping and biting a blue one's head, snatching the mask off before throwing it back at the guy's head. Then Boney growled before biting his neck and caused him to scream in pain.

Salsa actually managed to mirror a green Pigmask and duplicate a laser gun right back at him. Lucas isn't sure how the monkey did that, but at this point he welcomed it rather than questioned it.

Duster was pretty fast for someone with a limp leg, he used his wall staples to pin down many Pigmasks to render them immobile while he and a few others attacks. The man had a lot of tools in his pockets, such as the tickle feather or the scary mask that distracted the Pigmasks while Wess came in for a chop to the head or another Thunder Bomb.

The baby Drago gave a little roar before bouncing on its parent's head. The parent Drago gave a loud and fearsome roar before jumping on the tanks, trying to destroy them. But the Pigmask army was resilient and kept striking at the big dinosaur, making it hard to get around without getting hit by their lasers and cannonballs.

Lucas was pushed back by another white Pigmask, he grabbed Lucas's throat and held him up. "You won't be getting away from us!"

Lucas choked as he scratched at the Pigmask's grip, but thankfully Flint was right behind the white Pigmask and slammed his 2x4 right into his head, knocking him out and dropping the man's son. "D-Dad!"

"Watch out son, there's more of them coming!" Flint said urgently as Lucas quickly stood up and the father and son stood back-to-back.

"PK Offense Up!" Lucas suddenly shouted.

Flint gave a small gasp of surprise when he suddenly felt his body becoming tingly and stronger, there was an orange glow over his body and the 2x4 suddenly felt much lighter and easier to handle. The man looked over at his son, who's hand was raised over at him. "Thank you, son."

Lucas just nodded to him before the two ran at the Pigmasks that were trying to surround them. Lucas gripped his stick tightly as he swung it hard, knocking back the Pigmasks before pointing his finger at them to use the mini-Pk Love to knock them out.

The battle has been raging on for quite some time, the evening sun had already gone down and night was soon taking over, yet the people of the village and the Pigmask army were still going at it- however, it was starting to become clear that the Pigmask army were having the advantage. Many people were falling, the animals and chimeras took a lot of damage too. Salsa gave a small whimper as he fell against a building's wall. Boney was huffing in exhaustion and his front paw was in a lot of pain, he really hoped he didn't break it. Kumatora was running out of PSI fast, and she's getting overwhelmed quickly. Duster and Wess were trying their best to hold back the army, but the tanks were shooting at them, making them unable to get in too close without getting knocked back.

Lucas barely had enough mental energy to use one more full PK Love or a few PK Lifeups, and he wanted to save those for an extreme emergency. The boy's stick was broken in two after all the battering its taken. A white Pigmask fired a strong laser gun directly at Lucas's stomach, breaking the boy's shield and shooting him into a wall. The blond haired boy was so exhausted he could barely stand up, he was panting harshly on his hands and knees, trying to find the strength to stand up again. The boy began coughing, his body could not take much more of this, he had never been in such a long, drawn out battle before, it was hard on his young, not-yet matured body, taking its toll out more and more on the boy the longer the battle draws out. Sadly, Lucas doesn't see this battle ending anytime soon, and even if it did most likely it would not be in Tazmily's favor.

Lucas's eyes were blurring up from the exhaustion and battle wounds, so much so that he didn't notice a green Pigmask had approached him until he was right up on the boy. Lucas only had time to gasp in shock before he was kicked and shot at a few times from the laser gun. Lucas groaned before he was suddenly bum rushed into the side and he flipped on the ground. The boy didn't want to move from the ground, but he knew he couldn't afford to give up or his home will be destroyed. Lucas put a hand over his arm as he concentrated, trying to use the last of his strength for a PK Lifeup beta, but he stopped- no, he needed to save what he had left in case someone is dying, it would be the only thing to save them.

The messy blond haired body was trying to roll over on his stomach to try and push himself to his feet. While he was struggling to do so he heard someone shouting, "REINFORCEMENTS!" before there was a loud blast and a powerful lightning that strike down out of nowhere. Lucas groaned as the force send him rolling back a few feet and he was back on his back.

* * *

Lucas's breathing was labored as he was trying not to lose consciousness, he couldn't see what was going on in the battlefield but he could hear Pigmasks oinking in agony or desperation. There were a bunch of loud explosions as if the tanks were firing at each other. Lucas tried to focus his eyes back on the battlefield while he was still lying on the ground, he cringed when he saw MORE Pigmasks joining the battlefield. However the other Pigmasks were picking up the injured and taking them off the battlefield, some were scooting away the children.

"Get the injured out of here and take them for medical treatment immediately!" A familiar voice shouted in a commanding tone.

"Yes Commander sir!"

Lucas managed to roll back on his stomach and began pushing himself up again, struggling to get back on his feet. The battle isn't over yet, he knew they could still do this. If these Pigmasks were enemies of each other, then perhaps there's still a chance. The messy blond haired boy managed to get back to his wobbly feet, it was also for the first time he noticed what a mess he looked; his striped shirt and blue shorts were all torn up, his body was covered in scrapes, bruises and battle wounds. The boy so badly wanted to use PK Lifeup on himself, but he knew he had to save that energy, if he were to use it now he may just pass out from pure mental exhaustion.

"Ah, finally the Strong One decided to come out and play." Lucas heard a nearby white Pigmask say in satisfaction. "How troublesome that you came so late."

"You… how _dare_ you attack Tazmily just to get to me!" Lucas heard that familiar voice hissing with pure rage and anger. "You're nothing but a _coward_!"

"Said the one who remained hidden in his safe little haven while his village was being taken down." The white Pigmask taunted.

Lucas glared as he could see they were just a few feet ahead of him, they most likely haven't seen him yet. The one the white Pigmask was taunting was that Commander boy he had spoken to three months before, and even under that helmet Lucas could practically _feel_ the rage seeping off of the small Commander.

"I wasn't a coward! I was unaware you and your scum of an army decided to sink so low as to attack this innocent place!" The Commander hissed.

The white Pigmask suddenly aimed his gun at Lucas and fired at him. Lucas gasped as the laser hit him and sent him back a few feet on the ground again.

"LUCAS!"

Lucas landed on his side this time and gritted his teeth, of course he was foolish to think these trained soldiers couldn't see him a mere few feet away. The boy struggled to try and move again but a shadow loomed over him. Forcing his blue eyes to open he could see it was the Commander standing over him in, what appears to be, great concern.

"Lucas, don't move, you're hurt." The Commander said softly to him. Lucas could've sworn this was Claus's voice, but he knew it couldn't be.

"I… I have… to fight…" Lucas's voice cracked weakly.

"You've done your part, Lucas. Let us handle these _scums_ now." The Commander said as he put a gentle gloved hand over Lucas's head.

 _I don't understand… why is he being so nice to me? We've only met once…_ Lucas thought to himself. "W-where's… Boney… my Dad… K-Kumatora a-and-"

"They're all okay, don't worry." The helmet wearing boy said quietly.

"Grab these two boys now!" The white Pigmask suddenly shouted.

The Masked Man quickly stood up and stood protectively in front of Lucas, who looked at him in confusion. The Commander seemed hesitant about something, but took out what looked like a gray doorknob from his jacket pocket and held the stem of it tightly.

Lucas's eyes widen in shock when he saw the 'doorknob' suddenly began to sparkle with electricity, it began to turn into a bright yellow sword and he could feel a strong PSI being pushed into it. _The Commander… he… he CAN use PSI!_

The white Pigmask gave an angry grunt before shooting the laser gun at the two. The Masked Man sliced the laser in half with the lightning sword, it surprised and scared Lucas to see just how skilled this Commander really was.

"I've trained with all ranks of the Pigmask army. Don't think just because you're impersonating a Pigmask Colonel means you've got the same skills as they do!" The Commander hissed before pointing his right arm at him. Lucas was shocked again to see the arm suddenly transforming into a _cannon_! And it fired a powerful beam of concentrated PSI with scary precision, it hit the white Pigmask dead in the chest as it blew him all the way into a tank with a loud CLANG!

The Commander then turned back to the weakened blond haired boy before bending down and picking him up. "H-hey… w-what are-"

"Shhh, save your strength. I'm here to help, Lucas." The Masked Man said gently to him. It was scaring Lucas how much the Commander reminded him of Claus whenever he got hurt or sick right now.

"Why… why not… just g-get one o-of y-your own… P-Pigmask t-to… t-take care of… m-me?" Lucas asked weakly as the Masked Man hauled him on his back, forcing Lucas in a piggyback ride. The small Commander was stronger than he looked, that much was obvious, since he could easily lift the blond haired boy's dead weight.

"Because they're busy with everyone else and the renegade group." The Commander said. "Just rest now, Lucas. I'll get us to safety."

"I… c-can't…" Lucas struggled to remain conscious. "I… have to… f-fight…"

"You can barely move." The Commander said in a scolding tone. "Just save your strength."

Lucas's eyes looked up when he noticed a shadow looming over them. The entire area suddenly got colder as the winds began to blow. Everything stopped and everyone disappeared, even the Commander that was carrying him. The boy found himself floating there, with no way of moving. The night turned into day, then into night again, until it was total darkness. The village was a dull and dead gray, that figure appeared before him again, floating the same as he was.

Lucas still couldn't speak, but the figure was pointing upwards then at Lucas before pointing at its red eye again. The boy didn't understand what it meant, but it seemed to be warning at something in the sky, it kept pointing upwards. Lucas's eyes widen before he looked up and in a snap, reality came back and he saw a huge blue ball thing coming right at them.

"L-look… u-up." Lucas weakly warned.

The Masked Man frowned before looking up. "OH MY-!" He quickly ran down the streets, trying to avoid the big blue energy ball that was coming closer, it was crackling with electricity, one hit from that could knock anybody out.

"It's… following… us." Lucas managed to say.

The Commander hissed as he was trying to move, but the big electric ball was coming in closer. "LIKE IT COMMANDER!? IT'S OUR SECRET WEAPON JUST FOR YOU!" He heard the white Pigmask laughing like a maniac.

"I'm going to get him for this!" Lucas heard the Masked Man hissing.

Lucas shut his eyes and trying to think of a way to get away from that electric ball, then the Masked Man jumped before grabbing his electric sword and stabbing at the ball, trying to push it back. Lucas hated that he was the deadweight on the small Commander's shoulders, literally.

"GAH!" The Masked Man suddenly yelped in pain, Lucas noticed some of the discharging energy was getting in his uncovered right eye.

"Ah-ah-ah, we can't have you messing up our plans." The white Pigmask taunted as he stepped closer to them. The Commander was trying to push back the electric ball and can't do anything and Lucas was too weak to move.

"You… stay back!" The Masked Man hissed.

"Aww, looks like you're stuck. Maybe I should help you out." The white Pigmask said in a sinister tone before aiming his weapon at the two.

"N-no… s-stop!" Lucas yelled.

"Say goodnight, Commander." The Pigmask hissed before shooting.

The Masked Man used his cannon arm to shoot back at the Pigmask, but this caused him to lose most of his grip on the sword and the electric ball discharged. The Masked Man yelled as Lucas felt him releasing his own PK Thunder into the sword, causing the electric ball to explode! The explosion sent the two back, but Lucas noticed he wasn't feeling too hurt. He was expecting a burning, searing pain of high voltage passing through his body, but when he opened his eyes he could see that the Masked Man's body had shielded him, and he could hear him screaming in pain.

Lucas could see his green eye looking in pain before the color of it began to dull. Lucas's own eyes widen before, without really thinking about it he put his hand on the Masked Man's chest and concentrated. "PK... L-Lifeup... beta." And his mind, completely exhausted all PSI and his body wounded and tired, shut down. Lucas was out cold before he could see if he had managed to heal the small Commander.

" _Lucas? LUCAS!"_

* * *

Claus held his brother in his arms as Lucas suddenly went limp in his arms. "No… no…!" He couldn't see through his right eye for some reason, but his left eye could see it clear. Lucas fell limp and lifeless in his arms. "First Mom… and now Lucas… how many more people have to die before this ends?"

Fassad wasn't too far and he sensed a powerful PSI being gathered in one spot, it was so pure and wild that his eyes widened in fear. _What's going on over there!?_

Kumatora wasn't too far from the village as she was helping the people of Tazmily get to safety when suddenly she felt such strong and pure PSI. "What the…?" She never felt such raw PSI like this before, it was nerve wracking.

Claus hugged his brother, thinking he had lost him. "Lucas… what have they done to you?" He gently laid his brother down before his hands curled into fists and he felt something in his chest wanting to explode. His heart was pounding, like it was threatening to pop out of his chest. Claus gritted his teeth as he suddenly couldn't take it anymore.

Something inside Claus snapped as he threw off his helmet before he began screaming in rage and sorrow for the loss of brother. A bright, bluish white hexagon light rose out of his chest and began expanding. The bright hexagon light grew more and more, it covered Claus and Lucas's body, it began to cover the buildings, the tanks, the army around them, and soon it covered the entire village. Claus's eyes were glowing the same bright light as the hexagon light that now covered the village before he screamed once again and it exploded! The light flashed brightly before everything went black.

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: There, it wasn't THAT bad now was it? *Donfyre was covered in gauze.***

 **Donfyre: No, it wasn't bad. It was TERRIBLE. DX And now I can barely move! *tries twitching my body* Ow… ow... Why do I always end up being huuuurt?**

 **DarkFoxKit: Heh… it seems to be a common thing with my main co-writers. ^^' Besides, you made me lose that shiny Dratini. *pouts* … Oh! Looks like it's the end of the chapter! Well readers, what did you think of that? The whole Tazmily village fighting to defend themselves and all? Yeah the battle scene might seem a bit… uh… dragged on, but we wanted it to be almost like an authentic anime kind of thing.**

 **Donfyre: *is rereading the chapter* Jeez… this is a lot longer than I remembered it to be. But yeah, how'd you guys think of it? Exciting? Far-fetched? Or dragged on as Fox said? We'd like to know! c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: And as for that weird warning Lucas got before… that's gonna be important later. Oh and yeah, at the end of this chapter we did switch to Claus's point of view, because it was kinda necessary for that ending there. ^^' There will be times when we have to switch the character's point of view, so just be prepared for that. Anyways, now it's time to answer the reviews! You wanna start this time Fyre?**

 **Donfyre: Hm? Oh, alrighty!**

 **12courtney12: Pokemon academy controllers? Hmm… sounds interesting! But I'll just be focusing on the Earthbound fandom right now since, well… this is a Mother 3 fanfic. ^^; Well, now you've seen what happened with the attack this chapter. I think you can see now that, weeeeell… they're a little less than okay, but we'll see what happens next chapter. :P And as for Claus hopefully not losing anymore limbs? Let's find out and see what other things we may or may not have planned for him in the future. :3 We'd love to see what your little doodle looks like! It probably looks really nice. c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: It is quite ironic that Lucas's 'not brother' commander had to save him. ^^' But these ARE the renegades, so they're the bad guys here rather than the Pigmasks themselves. And Claus… as strong as he is, he IS fighting in a war, so no promises that he won't lose another limb. :P And we'd still like to see your doodle if possible. You could probably post it on deviantart.**

 **Donfyre: Fox here has a Deviantart account too under the same name, so she could comment on your drawing too! Anyways, next up…**

 **The-Great-Me-sama: There was a doorknob next to the review box in the same chapter we called the Thunder Striker a doorknob? Whooooa. o_o**

 **Yeah, we tend to do that sometimes. I suppose that's kinda my fault, I usually fix up the grammar but sometimes those things slip by me. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Now regarding the dialogue between Fassad and Claus, well… I'm not sure how fast you're reading the story but I did mention that Claus told the whole story of what happened in Club Titiboo and why he never came back to base after his daily mission there. Which means he had already told Fassad Kumatora's name 'off screen'. I suppose it might've been better if we hadn't skipped Claus telling Fassad about it, but it was a long story and we didn't think it was necessary to put it in, just that he told Fassad about it.**

 **Anyways nobody knows what the renegades wants exactly, just that they're after someone with PK Love, and they know the Commander can use it but he's far too dangerous for them to just kidnap him, so they're hoping for an easier target. And they're also hoping to take out Claus because he's so dangerous, hence the big weapon and attacking Tazmily to lure him out. And you'll find out more about how the Commander having PSI affects Lucas and Kumatora. ;)**

 **FanofFiction123: Hello again! :)**

 **Wow, we really kept you up all night for the next chapter huh? Well try not to lose too much sleep, especially with school and all. But we're pretty flattered that you like it so much that you're all anxious and excited for it. :D**

 **Really? That sucks. It would make it easier if you could get an account, but if you can't, you can't.**

 **Donfyre: Oh, I saw your Wattpad account a few days ago! Your story looked reeeaally good, but I saw that it was meant to be a Claus x Reader story, and since I'm a guy, weeeeell… yeah. ^^; But it still looked really interesting! You should write more. c:**

 **Heh, the whole idea of Claus being in a Magicant created by Lucas is shocking yet kinda cool isn't it? They get to have nice little heart-to-hearts! Which Fox here loves. :P**

 **Really? You fangirled over this story? Awesome! Speaking of fangirling… *looks over at Fox, who was fangirling herself* I think she got all excited when I mentioned your "Claus x Reader" fanfic. :3**

 **DarkFoxKit: SHUT UP! *slashes the gauzes off Fyre* I DID NOT!**

 **Donfyre: WAH! *quickly covers myself in a blanket* Suuuuure you didn't. :3 Anyways, we like answering to our reviewers!**

 **DarkFoxKit: *grumbles at Fyre* … Yes, we do. We want them to know we appreciate the time they take to review the story. And glad to know you're excited for the next chapter tomorrow too, so much so you left another review about it. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: And another one where you listed theories of ways Lucas could have unmasked Claus. Well… you'll see what happens at some point! :P**

 **Connor the speling pro:**

 **DarkFoxKit: I suppose that's one way to look at it, though having a plot for those ideas make it easier to enjoy.**

 **I'm really more of the type of writer who likes to keep the characters in-character if they have an established personality already. I like to stay true to who they are, but again that's just me. I suppose changing their personalities isn't too bad as long as it's done right. Ceres is a pretty good example, I mean the characters are pretty different but they're still enjoyable enough to read about. Must be why nobody's raged at you, though some did wonder why Lucas acted a lot less shy than he should in some stories you did.**

 **Ah, well I do usually prefer to write in the character's point of view myself, it's just when I'm writing in third person rather than first person I tend to forget that one character can't hear the other character's thoughts (unless they were reading minds, which they're not) and I end up switching point of views. I'm still working on that, but as you can see at the end of this chapter there are times switching point of views becomes necessary, but we try to make it as clear as possible.**

 **Donfyre: As for your response to the chapter, yep! He does have a nice, shiny sword now! You'll see what it'll bring him later on. And yuuuuuus, the cliffhangers are real, and evil. :3**

 **Considering how much Fox loves her little heart-to-hearts in stories… You'll see how Magicant will go with that. ^^;**

 **Heh, it's nice to know you're supporting people's great ideas on the site! Thanks!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yes, it IS nice. :D**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: Yeah, I thought it was pretty cute too! Well… I was referring to Fyre being a Pikachu, not you, since he was nuzzling and if he was a Pikachu and used Nuzzle then you might've gotten shocked and been paralyzed. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: We know you're not a boy! Sorry for the misunderstanding. ^^; But we really do hope you feel better with whatever it is you're going through! *nuzzles the review* And nice to know you found the chapter heartwarming. c:**

 **Guest:**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yes, Lucas can go to Magicant.**

 **Phoesong:**

 **Donfyre: It's fine! At least you left a nice review now. c:**

 **Hee hee! Cliffhangers are eeeevil, aren't they? And we left another one at the end of this chapter too. :3**

 **There are a looot of people who are curious about Lucas unmasking the Masked Man. Who knows when he'll find out? Guess you'll just have to wait and see. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yeah, apparently I like sibling fluff too, as long as it's not anything serious. I think it's pretty cute actually, with how they hugged each other like that. :D Brotherly love.**

 **And yeah, we grew up with Pokemon ourselves, if the top AN wasn't any indications as it is. ^^'**

 **And thanks, we appreciate your support!**

 **Flun: Magicant works in different ways. I mean the Magicant in Earthbound Beginnings has pink clouds and trippy skies- not that we actually saw the sky- while Ness's Magicant didn't have any pink clouds at all. I think it's different depending on the person. And well, Claus didn't discover his own Magicant because he had no reason to. Magypsies had been training Lucas to find his own, but not Claus.**

 **Heh, yeah, Claus is lucky that Lucas is willing to let his lies slip by, and those reflexes only saved him due to being trained in the army for two and a half years. And Claus really isn't comfortable lying to his brother's face, no matter how long it's been. And Claus didn't exactly locked the bathroom door, he ran out the window behind his bedroom.**

 **And yes, Claus finally got the thunder sword everyone's been waiting for him to get. And as for the sound effect… we leave that to the readers themselves.**

 **Donfyre: I… don't really know either if that eye is canon or not either. ^^; But you'll see what'll happen! But you do have a point with keeping his guard up, he seems pretty close to becoming one of the things that he dreads.**

 **What're you talking about? Cliffhangers are niiiice. c: Hope you're excited for the next chapter!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Err… okay, we have one more late review! Let's go ahead and answer it.**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan: Well I guess you could see it that way as being there just in time, but we do our ANs the day before the update, so we're adding your answer last minute. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: Yeeeaaah... We actually did this entire thing yesterday already, but we decided to just add this one in quickly today. But like Fox said, we do our AN's the day before updating! Just an FYI. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Anyways, yes, we decided to put in Magicant. :D It was a feature that wasn't in Mother 3 sadly, it could've had some potentials, but hey that's why fanfiction exist.**

 **And isn't it funny how Lucas almost saw the helmet? Claus is getting sloppy. :3**

 **Yeah, Claus had to be quick alright just to escape. XD**

 **Of course, Claus just wouldn't be the Masked Man/Commander without his trademark thunder sword.**

 **Donfyre: Claus is gonna shape up to be a really good lightning-specialized spellfencer! c:**

 **Well, now you've seen what happened. And you can see that both Claus AND Lucas kiiiinda got hurt real bad. ^^;**

 **It's alright! At least you still left one. Just remember that we do our AN's the day before updating. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Whew… okay, we're done. Looks like you're feeling better. *tosses sheets of papers out the window***

 **Donfyre: *looks over at Fox* Uh… what are you doing? And what do you meeeeaan by that?**

 **DarkFoxKit: Just tossing out our old scripts. And you don't need that blanket over you anymore. :3 There IS one more piece of announcement we need to make. *turns to the readers* For those of you who had read Time Distorter, it will be on Connor's account now, due to some complications I can't keep it on my own account. I apologize for that, but just look on Connor's account for the story.**

 **Donfyre: *still has the blanket huddled around me* Yeah, it's a really great story though! So you can look for it on Connor the speling pro's account.**

 **DarkFoxKit: *smirks evilly while holding a biiiiig needle as I slowly opened the blanket from behind Fyre* Oh Fyre, when was the last time you went for a check up at the doctor's?**

 **Donfyre: O_O Uh…. y-yesterday…? *quickly runs away***

 **DarkFoxKit: Hey! Get back here! You need your shot little Wooper! *runs after him before Fyre trips over the camera and Fox tripped and accidentally fell on top of it***

 ***static***

 **DarkFoxKit: *trying to get the camera back on* Errr… s-sorry about that! Um… I am DarkFoxKit, the one with the big shot in his tail is Donfyre and we look forward to hearing from you!**

 **Donfyre: *voice is heard somewhere far off* W-wait, you actually GOT me!? What is this stuff!?**

 **DarkFoxKit: :3 Juuuuust a little something to knock you out for a bit and relax. Now goodniiiiiight little Fyre.**

 **Donfyre: NOOOO! Help me, readers! DX**

 ***Water was sprayed everywhere from Fyre, some hitting the camera and putting it to static.***


	16. Chapter 16: Aftermath

**DarkFoxKit: *is quietly sneaking behind Donfyre, who was looking at something on the computer. She then whispers to the camera,* Hi readers, I'll bet you're all looking forward to the next chapter, but right now I'm going to let you see what Fyre does in his spare time. ;) *pans the camera back on Donfyre***

 **Donfyre: *a dozen tabs were open on…. random stuff. He was listening to music in one tab and giggling at random videogame memes on another***

 **DarkFoxKit: We watch as the Wooper plays in his natural habitat. See how he enjoys these things on the internet, and looking at funny memes. Wow, he really is like a teenage boy. :3 *moves in closer***

 **Donfyre: …. Fox, it's hard not to notice you when you're practically breathing down my neck. ^^; What are you even doing anyways? *didn't notice that Fox was holding the camera too***

 **DarkFoxKit: Juuuuust showing the readers what you do in your spare time. :)**

 **Donfyre: What are you…? *sloooowly turns around* ….. WAH! *quickly shuts off the computer screen* Er, h-hiya readers! ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Well then, now that we got your attention Fyre, you have anything you want to say before we start this next chapter?**

 **Donfyre: *is still trying to recover from the awkward start* W-well… we're back from the cliffhanger from last chapter! Now you all get to see just what REALLY happened after Claus's little outburst on the battle at Tazmily. Aaaand… think that's all I have to say. *looks at Fox* And if you wanted my attention why didn't you warn me BEFOREHAND? DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: Cause I wanted the readers to see you in your natural habitat. :3 You're so cute when you didn't know you were being watched by the world.**

 **Donfyre: C-cute!? *twitch* I will kick you for that! *lunges at the fox***

 **DarkFoxKit: Wah-! *static***

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Aftermath**

 _Pain… so much pain… Am I… dying? I sat in the cold darkness for what felt like forever. What happened to me? The last thing I remember was shielding Lucas with my body when that big electric ball exploded… I think… I remember doing something after that… but it's all a blur… Ugh… I wish I remembered…_

 _I tried getting to my feet, but I couldn't, instead I kept falling back down. I needed to know if Lucas is okay… please tell me he's okay… he looked so beaten up when I saw him. I tried to get on my feet again… okay… stop wobbling legs… I need… to get out of here… I started moving, but I was going at a slug's pace. My legs wouldn't stop wobbling and I was always at the danger of falling over at every step I took._

 _Come on… come on… argh… I fell to my hands and knees… How am I ever going to get out of here? I shut my eyes and struggled back to my feet again and continued moving. I think I see light up ahead… such warm light… I wanted to go there, it'll lead me out of this cold darkness. I forced my wobbly legs to keep going until I could reach that light. Then I fell back down, though surprisingly I fell on soft yellow flowers instead of a cold, hard ground. Now what happened?_

* * *

" _Claus?"_

 _Forcing my head up, I looked around. I was lying in the middle of an endless patch of sunflowers, and everything looked surreal. Nothing was in sight, just miles of sunflowers, except…_

" _Lucas? I-is that you?" He was standing there, not too far off, watching me lay in the sunflowers._

 _Lucas was looking at me in concern. "Are you hurt?"_

"I… I can't… stand up…" I groaned.

 _He walked over to me, still having that look of concern on his face, and at the same time a look of bewilderment. "You're here again…"_

" _Again? I don't... know what… you're… talking about..." I didn't even know where I was. Did Fassad evacuated us to a sunflower field? … Where's my helmet? In fact, where's my entire uniform? I guess I really did lose my memory after that explosion. "Where… are we…? What happened?"_

" _And you feel alive again this time." Lucas just said. "... We're in a sunflower field, Claus."_

" _Yeah… I can see that…" I groaned as I sat up and tried to get back on my feet. My legs wobbled and I didn't even take two steps before I fell back down. "Ugh… still can't move…"_

" _Claus!" he said in worry, helping me up and trying to support me. "You're hurt… is this the real you, Claus?"_

 _I looked down at the sunflowers… strange, they didn't seem crushed despite my weight over them. I looked over at my twin brother, who's blue eyes were looking at me in both concern and curiosity. "Am I real? Why... would you... ask me that?"_

 _Lucas looked a little confused at my response. "The last time you showed life here, you said that it wasn't really you… But I want to think it's you… Is it?"_

" _Huh? What?" I was getting confused myself now, what's he talking about? I don't remember being in a sunflower field… except for… Oh no… I looked at my right arm… it's organic again. I'm in Lucas's Magicant AGAIN!? What happened to my bracelet? I don't remember falling asleep next to him! Ugh, stupid memory gap! I almost blew my cover! Okay, I have to calm down. I don't know what happened but somehow I ended up in my brother's Magicant again, just play it cool and find out what happened later. "O-oh… uh… of course I'm not real. I guess you just got lucky again with me."_

 _Lucas… he looked a little suspicious this time, just for a little bit, but it was replaced by disappointment. "... Then why are you here? You seem to come here randomly… and you feel and act living too."_

" _I don't know, it's_ your _Magicant." I said, trying to shrug it off. "I guess something happened to the real Claus? That must be why I'm here, you're worried about him… and that might explain why I'm having trouble walking."_

 _Lucas looked even more down. "I guess you might be right… since you… er, Claus was hospitalized again… I tried my hardest to protect Tazmily, but I couldn't even protect my brother…"_

 _I found this a good chance to find out what happened after I blacked out as the Commander. "Do you remember what happened then?"_

" _Not really, I passed out… but when I woke up I was in Dad's arms and Fassad was carrying yo- Claus unconscious in his arms. Apparently his right eye has been damaged when he was attacked… so…" Lucas looked hesitant. "...they… have to replace it… just like with his arm…"_

 _I paled at this… They're going to replace my EYE!? I looked at Lucas and quickly tried to calm myself down. I don't want to give myself away. "O-oh, that… does sound bad… Did you happen to fall asleep right next to Claus?"_

" _Maybe you really are just part of my mind, since you know that…" Lucas said with a sigh. "I was so worried about him, and the doctors didn't mind if I spent some time with you… or him."_

 _That would explain how I ended up back in Lucas's Magicant. "You stayed with your brother all day and night? Wow… that's… really loyal of you, Lucas." I couldn't help but blush at this. I felt so… warm and fuzzy at the thought of Lucas staying by my side like that, but I also felt guilty for leaving him all day because of my job…_

 _Lucas helped supported me to a bench that was near a beautiful fountain in the middle of the sunflower fields. My brother helped set me down to it and he sat down right next to me. There was something so serene and relaxing just sitting here right next to my twin brother, watching the clear waters from the fountain._

" _Would you do anything for your brother, Lucas?" I suddenly asked him. "Even if he was working with the enemy that attacked Tazmily?"_

" _Of course I would!" Lucas said, with no hesitation. "Even if he was working with the enemy… I know Claus, he would have some reason for doing something like that, and even though I don't like that he's playing water boy for those Pigmasks… I know he won't try to do anything bad on purpose."_

" _You sure do believe in him a lot." I said with an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Sometimes I wonder if you believe in him more than he does himself."_

 _Lucas looked at me with his head tilted. "Why do you say that? He's almost always been confident with himself… maybe even more than I am sometimes."_

 _I almost wanted to laugh at that. I've never really been confident in myself, if anything I've only put on a mask of being confident, it was really Lucas who inspired me to be more confident. "You really think so, huh? Claus isn't all as confident as he appears to be. Sometimes he tries a little too hard."_

" _Really? I always saw him as someone who was really confident in himself… he was always the outgoing one who would stick with his choices. And he's my older brother, I look up to him for that…" Lucas looked at me with a strange look. "How do you know that if you're just part of my mind?"_

 _I found myself staring at the water, almost hypnotized by it. Is it really right for me to keep half of my life hidden from him like this? Lucas just said he would believe in me no matter what… even if I was the Commander, right? He'll know that we didn't attack them, it was a completely different group masquerading as our army. I know Master Porky and Fassad warned me not to ever let him find out… but it's eating me up, especially now. I want to tell Lucas the truth… I don't want to hold back anymore… but how can I? I'm not supposed to tell him…_

" _I… I don't know… I just spout nonsense I guess." I finally answered him with a sigh before putting my organic right hand over my organic eye… what's my eye going to be like now that it's being replaced? I'm afraid to find out and I can't even express my fear to my own brother… I felt like crying right now…_

" _Nonsense? But everything you say sounds just like what Claus would say…" Lucas said with a curious look. "... Are you alright? You don't look very well."_

 _I squeezed my right hand with my left hand. "... I'll bet the real Claus would be scared right now. Even with all his confidence… he is still only a child after all." I tried not to face his eyes directly because I could already feel the unwanted tears wanting to escape from my eyes. "I-I mean first h-he lost his lower r-right arm… a-and now h-he lost h-his right eye… t-that's pretty harsh… f-for a 12 year old child…"_

" _Yeah, I… guess so." Lucas frowned, looking at me with concern again. "You… Your face is red, and you don't sound okay. You sound… scared." He put his hand on my shoulder and tried to look at me directly, then he gave a surprised gasp. "C-Claus…?"_

 _My tears were already falling from my face… I couldn't stop them. "It's not fair Lucas… I didn't want to become a mechanical monster!" I couldn't even stop the outburst before dropping my head to my hands, hiding my face from him. "I only wanted to protect the people I cared about, people I love like you, Dad and Boney! Why did all this happen to me!?" Please somebody stop me from talking, Lucas is going to find me out! Why couldn't I stop?_

" _C-Claus!" Lucas quickly wrapped his arms around me, hugging me. It made me feel warm and comfortable, and I really needed it… just knowing he was there made me feel a little better. "I-it's okay, Claus… All of us still love you, your family, the people in Tazmily, you do everything you can…" He tried looking at me in the eyes again and I didn't even try to pull away this time. "Claus… Is… this really you?"_

 _I didn't know what to do. I wanted to tell him so badly… but… "I… I'm…"_

 _But suddenly everything began to fade away and my eyes grew heavy. What's happening? Lucas suddenly looked drowsy too. Both of us fell against each other before blacking out._

* * *

Claus gasped as he sat up from his bed with a jolt and a voice yelped in surprise, "Whoa! Hoho, I guess you're finally awake!"

The ginger haired boy panted for a few seconds before turning his head to see Lucas's head by his side, who was just waking up himself, and another doctor was there with them. Surprisingly this time it wasn't Dr. Andonuts, it was a female doctor.

"It's good to see that you're finally up, we knew you still showed signs of life after that incident, but we weren't sure how long you'd stay asleep." the female doctor explained as she started checking things on the strange machinery next to Claus's bed.

"Claus…?" Lucas said softly, looking up at Claus in concern.

 _It looks like we really were in Magicant again…_ Claus thought to himself. _I almost let myself go there… can I still persuade him that that wasn't me? That was a really call close… but what if he figured it out?_

"Uh… yes, Lucas?" Claus looked over at his brother before he noticed something red reflecting in Lucas's blue eyes. "Huh?" he put his hand over his right eye. "What happened to my eye?"

The female doctor looked over at the two of them. "Ah, yes, about that…" the doctor was looking at some papers in front of her. Claus was a little worried that she had a concerned look on her face. "Your brother's been really worried about you ever since we gave you… that eye. We let him stay with you for a bit, we heard that it would help you feel better."

"W-what?!" Claus quickly sat up, putting his hands over his eye. "What happened? What did you do to my eye?!" Lucas was looking at Claus sadly seeing his panic.

The doctor just had that same worried look on her face as she answered. "That attack that happened recently… There was a lot of damage concentrated in the cornea of your optical senses, even reaching far into the lens of your eye. Your optical nervous system in that eye had become completely dysfunctional…" Claus wasn't sure what to make of this, and just looked at the doctor in slight confusion. "In other words… your right eye became completely blinded, so we replaced your eye with an artificial one. B-but this one is completely functional, and shouldn't be any different as looking through an organic eye."

"... This… artificial eye… is it another one of Dr. Andonuts' inventions?" Claus asked, trying not to show his emotions. "Because I've seen artificial eyes before… they didn't look RED!"

"Yes, it is." She said. "He didn't want you having a glass eye since those are impossible to see through. We couldn't change the color because it was originally an eye made for mechanical chimeras, but we tweaked it enough to be compatible with you and it should work like an organic eye."

Claus looked down at himself before he looked back up, "... Is that what I am now? A human mechanical chimera?"

"W-well, that's putting it harshly." the doctor tried to assure. "You're still biologically a completely normal human boy. These implants were implemented to make sure you still keep living normally like this! I think it's better than having to live crippled."

"Yeah… normally… More like reminders of battle scars." Claus hissed bitterly. He knew the only reason he got these implants was because the army couldn't afford him to be crippled.

"Claus…" Lucas spoke up soft as he put a gentle hand on his brother's organic left hand. "Will you… please give us some time alone… if it's not too much trouble?" he asked the doctor.

The woman gave a nod. "Sure. I have to inform Mr. Fassad about the boy's awakening anyway." With that, she turned and left through the door.

* * *

Now that Claus was alone with Lucas, he felt both relieved and uncomfortable. "Look at me… I've become a freak."

Lucas didn't say anything at first, just kept looking at Claus in concern. Claus could feel Lucas giving attention mainly to the red eye that had replaced his right eye. "... No you aren't, Claus. I know you're probably doing a lot to help me and Dad and even Tazmily. It's my fault I hadn't been protecting you during those times, even though I have these powers…"

"It's not your fault Lucas. _They're_ the ones who attacked _us_! … They're not the Pigmasks…" Claus said with a bitter sigh. "They're just some renegade army trying to make the Pigmasks look like the bad guys and nobody knows why!" he groaned and rubbed the temples of his head. "I don't remember much during the battle actually… I just remember waking up in darkness and on a su- err… in the hospital bed with you and the doctor."

Lucas seemed to think about what Claus had said. "Is that all you remember? Do you remember anything else? Like… a dream you could have had?"

Lucas looked a little too hopeful there, making Claus more uncomfortable. "A dream? … N-no, I just said I remember waking up in darkness before waking up here… I-I don't think that can be counted as a dream… w-why do you ask?"

"A-are you sure?" Lucas said, looking disappointed but a little desperate for the answer he wanted. "Because, um, I had a... dream, and you were in it and you started talking and admitting a lot of things to me."

 _Yeah, I really lost it there… I really need to be more careful. But just the thought of this eye… it was bad enough that I lost my lower right arm got it replaced with this mechanical one… and now I lost an eye…. what's next? Will I keep losing body parts until I've become a complete mechanical chimera?_ "... I guess… maybe… you figured I'd be scared… when I wake up." Claus said slowly, trying to hold in the tears, though he briefly wondered if his artificial eye could even produce tears.

Lucas frowned to himself. Claus thought he heard him mumble to himself, "No, that can't be it…" He looked over at Claus one more time. "I… I don't know, I guess it could have… but maybe it could have really been you, or at least a part, that showed me what you were really feeling since I have PSI."

"Y-yeah, that… that might be it… I don't know how… PSI works…" Claus said, trying to stop himself from sobbing, it was bad enough he was crying to Lucas in his Magicant. "L-Lucas… did anyone say… what happened to the Commander of the Pigmasks? I… I heard he was there… before I blacked out."

"Huh? Oh yeah, him… He actually helped a lot when those Pigmasks- or renegades attacked. And… he could use PSI too! But a really large attack hurt him a lot, and I tried to help him… I don't remember what happened to him after that attack, I passed out too." The blond haired twin answered.

"Oh… I guess you didn't hear what happened to him either." Claus sighed before looking down at his wrist, wishing he had his bracelet right now. "How's everyone else? Are they okay?"

"Everyone's fine, they've all been evacuated and returned safely from what Dad told me. Many were injured but none were killed thankfully." Lucas said. "Dad's been helping out with the medicine by collecting ingredients. Since I had to stay here anyways to make sure I'm not too injured from the fight I decided to stay with you."

Claus seemed to be looking around. "That's really nice of you, Lucas. Sometimes I wonder if I even deserve such a kind brother like you." _I hope Kumatora isn't nearby, there's a good chance she could pick up on my PSI… my emotions are getting harder to control._ "I mean… you can use PSI… you're so kind and gentle yet you can fight to defend this town and still come out with all your limbs. The animals like you, the Magypsies like you, heck even that scary Kumatora likes you. And all I've done is lose some body parts."

"H-hey, don't say that!" Lucas protested. "Even though I help people, you help a lot of people too! A lot of people in Tazmily respect you for your outgoingness and you show how much you want to help people. I may be able to help the town, but I can't even save my own brother… you've been doing better than me there."

"Lately I haven't been much of a brother to you at all. The Commander's the one who protected you, not me." Claus said bitterly.

"... Wait, how did you know the Commander was protecting me? I never said he was." Lucas said with a confused look.

Claus froze when he realized his mistake, he had been sombering so much in his emotions that he forgot that he's not supposed to know what the Commander was doing. "... L-lucky guess?"

Lucas looked even more suspicious than before. "Claus… is there something you're not telling me that you do with the Pigmasks?"

"What? It's not that hard to guess." Claus said nervously, trying to come up with a believable story. "I mean I've seen the Commander a few times while working with the Pigmasks… he talked about you a few times… so I figured he'd want to protect you…"

Lucas frowned at this. "I… wonder why he's so interested in me…" It looked like he was going to ask another question, and Claus wasn't sure how much more he could answer, but someone quickly interrupted as the door to the room opened.

Claus almost yelped and Lucas looked up in surprise as a familiar pink haired young woman walked on in. "Hey Lucas! Ah, so your brother finally woke up! How've you been lazy bones?"

The ginger haired boy quickly focused on his PSI core and tried to shut it off as much as he could without the bracelet. _Where is my bracelet!? Why couldn't Fassad put it on me before taking off my uniform!? I had it in my pocket!_ "... Uh… h-hi Kumatora…" he said awkwardly.

"Oh, hi Kumatora!" Lucas said, cheering up a little bit. "Yeah, Claus just woke up a few minutes ago. He… isn't really used to the new eye though." Lucas looked over at Claus and frowned a little when he saw how nervous he looked.

"Y-yeah… the eye… I'm glad I could still see through it, but why did it have to be red? I look like a freak." Claus sighed but still concentrating on keeping his PSI as low as possible so Kumatora wouldn't detect it. _Please don't read my mind!_

Kumatora had a small look of sympathy, but still smirked a little. "Yeah, I guess. But hey, man up a little. At least you can still see, we got something good out of this modernizing stuff the Pigmasks gave us."

"I'm surprised you're not steaming mad at them for attacking Tazmily." Claus said quietly. "I mean you were pretty angry at them for the forest fire several months ago."

"I told Kumatora it's possible those Pigmasks were fighting against the Pigmasks we knew, that's why the ones at Club Titiboo said nothing about an attack on Tazmily." Lucas explained to Claus.

"Oh… well that's insightful of you." Claus said softly, he was having trouble talking and trying to keep his PSI as low as possible at the same time. Lucas could almost see the boy sweating a little bit, like he's doing something that's taking effort.

"Hey, um, Claus? Is there something wrong?" Lucas asked, wondering what could have made him nervous.

Kumatora looked a little concerned too, frowning at the boy. "Yeah, what happened with you? Don't tell me you got nervous when I walked in. Sure I'm not really a bowl of sunshine, but I don't think I'm _that_ scary."

"Ah, I didn't mean to come off as rude." Claus said, trying to smile at them. "I… guess I'm… just tired is all. I don't even remember what happened to me… I just feel like something did and it's driving me crazy."

"You don't remember how you got knocked out, right?" Lucas asked. "Maybe you can ask Fassad, he's the one who found you."

"R-right, I'll be sure to do that." Claus said, still trying to smile. "Um… so how's your PSI training going?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"Huh? Oh, well, good I guess." Kumatora just replied, shrugging. "Although Lucas here's been slacking off a little."

"W-what? Hey, that's not my fault!" Lucas protested, pouting a little. "You know I wanted to spend some time with Claus. I've been worried about him… and I still haven't been doing much."

"Hey, relax, I'm just messing with ya." Kumatora said, ruffling the boy's head. "But Claus, what about you? Lucas has been spending some time off but you still keep getting in these accidents."

"It's not like I _wanted_ these things to happen to me." Claus frowned. "I just wanted to help protect Tazmily too, and everyone I love. And all it's gotten me is a severed arm and the loss of my right eye!" He sighed sadly. "Things… haven't been the same since Mom died… but I never expected for it to change so much like this. Lucas gaining PSI, me running off with an army… it's just too much."

Lucas had a sad look on his face as Claus spoke this. Kumatora looked like she also had some sympathy for the boy. "Ah… yeah, some stupid things can happen when your life changes. But it's good to know you're still doing as much as you can to protect everyone, and I know I can believe that you've been helping Lucas a lot too. … Thanks for that."

Claus looked at her before nodding with a small smile. "Yeah, of course. I'd do anything for Lucas if I can." then he sighed. "But Lucas, don't slack off of training because of me. You should keep going. I mean you've done things with your PSI that not many else could- I'm just guessing here. Fassad told me about how you're more intuned with your PSI than the Commander is, he just uses it for combat and survival." The boy saw no reason to hide the fact the Commander can use PSI since he knew Lucas saw him used it up close and personal in the battle.

"Oh, so that Commander really can use PSI?" Kumatora said, raising an eyebrow.

Lucas looked at Kumatora and nodded his head. "Yeah, I forgot to tell you about it. He was using PSI to help defend Tazmily!"

Kumatora suddenly got a suspicious look in her eyes as she began thinking. "I remember… there was a very powerful surge of raw PSI during the evacuation. It was so intense that it made people go blind for a few seconds. I thought it felt like the PK Love and I had assumed Lucas used it, but it was also different, it felt… wild, like it had no real control. It was just raw and pure. The battle was pretty much over by the time the PK Love was dissipated. It wasn't even a beta, gamma or omega level, it was just pure raw PSI energy."

Claus raised an eyebrow, he and Lucas were the only ones he knew who could use PK Love, who else could've used it during the battle? Unless… _Was that me? Did I use that PK Love? I… I don't even remember…_ "And… you think the Commander did that?" he hesitantly asked.

Kumatora thought to herself and eventually nodded her head. "Yeah, I think so. I've been looking into this Commander person and I figured he could've been a PK Lover user. I wasn't sure though, the man has a good way of hiding it even from me."

Claus silently gulped to himself at this. _Keep it cool, Claus… You can't let them find out you can use PSI too. If they do… it won't be too long before they can make a connection to who I really am._

"The Commander didn't seem to know about PSI when I first talked to him." Lucas said with a frown. "I guess he was trying to hide it."

"Maybe he was scared what would happen if word got out that the Pigmask's Commander can use PSI." Claus said with a shrug. "That's what I'd do if I was in his boots. But we still don't know for sure if it was the Commander who used that PK Love back there, are you sure it wasn't Lucas who used it before he passed out or something? I mean, Kumatora, you even said that nobody else could use such a rare and legendary PSI like Love."

Lucas shook his head at what Claus said. "No, I don't think so. The last thing I remember using was Lifeup on the Commander. I don't think I had enough energy to use anything after that. But that Commander… he was really focused on defeating those renegade Pigmasks, so I wouldn't be surprised if he did use it."

"We still don't have definite proof he did it." Claus said stubbornly. "I still find it hard to believe anyone other than Lucas could learn this PK Love."

"It's very unlikely, but it is still possible for someone else to have it." Kumatora said.

Claus sighed before he said, "Have you ever explained why PK Love is so important? These renegade group seem to be after people with PK Love. Sure it's got raw power, but why go through such trouble to kidnap someone that knows how to use it?"

Kumatora hesitated at that, looking a little flustered which was unlike her. "I… I can't tell you something like that. Yes, it's a lot more important than just some awesome, powerful attack. But that's something probably only Lucas can learn… and not now, but soon."

"What about the Commander? If you think he can use it, doesn't he have the right to know too?" Claus asked, sounding more bitter than he intended to. _I really need to stop talking now._ "Sorry… I guess I…" he looked over at his brother. "... never really got over the fact I could never have PSI."

"That's alright, I know how you feel knowing when someone else has an advantage over you." Kumatora said, trying to make Claus feel better. "But about that Commander… we don't even really know who he is or why he's even working with those Pigmasks. He just seemed to show up out of nowhere. He could be someone from Tazmily who was promoted when they found out he could use PSI, but I don't know how me or the Magypsies didn't even notice it."

"I guess it's a mystery to all of us." Claus said.

"Claus… have you been… jealous of me?" Lucas asked in concern. "Were you feeling left out? … I'm… sorry… I guess I should've figured that out sooner…"

"No, no, no, it's okay Lucas. I don't blame you for it." Claus said with a sigh. "I guess that's just how things work."

The ginger haired boy didn't like that he just made Lucas feel bad, but before he could say anything he noticed Kumatora was looking at him curiously.

"... I-is there something wrong, Kumatora?" Claus asked a little nervously.

"... Hey Lucas, do you notice anything different about Claus? Besides that red eye of his." Kumatora just said, looking suspiciously at Claus.

Lucas tilted his head, not sure what Kumatora was talking about. "Hmm? Um… I guess not too much, he looks the same, maybe a little beat up from that attack from the renegades… What do you mean?"

Kumatora frowned, still staring at Claus. He shifted uncomfortably from her gaze. "It's just… I thought I _sensed_ something from him… almost like-"

The door suddenly opened and in walked Fassad, which had never been such a welcoming sight to Claus. "Excuse me… I don't mean to interrupt, but… I need to discuss some things with the patient."

"A-are you sure I can't stay with him? H-he is my brother…" Lucas said with a frown.

"It won't take long. Just wait right outside please." Fassad said patiently.

Lucas and Kumatora looked at each other before nodding. "We'll be back later then, kid." Kumatora said to Claus.

"I'll be back as soon as possible, Claus." Lucas said to his brother before the two walked out the door.

* * *

With both Lucas and Kumatora gone, Claus sighed in relief and laid back down. "Oh thank you Fassad… I think Kumatora sensed some of my PSI… where's my bracelet? I could _really_ use it."

"First… tell me what you remembered during the battle." Fassad said in a serious tone, which grabbed the 12-soon-to-be-13-year-old boy's attention. Claus knew when Fassad gets serious it's time to listen.

"I remember pushing and shielding Lucas from that electric ball when it began to explode… and I heard Lucas mumbled something before he passed out… and the next thing I knew I was in Lucas's Magicant again." Claus answered the best he could.

"I see…" Fassad gave a thoughtful look.

"Did… did I use some kind of strong PK Love? Kumatora said she saw and felt a raw and pure version of it during the evacuation." Claus asked hesitantly.

"Yes, you did. It was the first time I've seen a PK Love being used like that." Fassad said quietly. "When Lucas passed out on you, you must've thought he was dead, because it looked like something snapped in you before you let out a scream and let loose such raw and pure PSI power into that PK Love. It came directly out of your chest and burned out your uniform… I'm afraid that included the bracelet and the helmet. Dr. Andonuts can always make more of those, don't worry, but it's strange because your original clothes didn't seem affected at all. And when you did use it, the PK Love didn't hurt any of your allies, only the renegades. The battle was pretty much won after that, but you passed out and I suspected you wouldn't remember that."

Claus frowned as he let this information sink in. "That doesn't make any sense, how would wild PSI know who not to hurt?"

"Because of what it is; PK _Love_. It won't hurt those you care about, which is good for us, but it also reveals a person's true nature. That's probably why it burned your Commander's uniform and accessories, to reveal who you really are. Don't worry, nobody but me and the Pigmasks saw you. I brought you and Lucas to your father, saying I found you unconscious just outside the village." Fassad explained. "And… as you have noticed already, Dr. Andonuts had to replace your right eye."

"Y-yeah… I know…" Claus said bitterly.

"I'm sorry that happened. But the eye can be used as a secondary HUD in case you're unable to use your helmet again. It's useful for scanning, analyzing and detecting thermal heat, so not much can hide from your eye with or without your helmet." Fassad explained.

The young Commander closed his eyes and turned away a bit. "But I don't want a second HUD in my eye socket… I just want my own eye back."

Fassad put a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. "I know… and I'm sorry. After what happened, Master Porky said you should take a few weeks off to recover from this and he'd understand if you want to quit. Master Porky seemed pretty guilty about this."

"Why should he? It's not his fault this happened to me." Claus said as he opened his eyes, one green and the other red. " _I_ chose this… _I_ signed up for this… but... maybe I will need a vacation. I don't want to lose anymore body parts for a while."

"I understand. Dr. Andonuts is working on your new helmet and jetpack. The sword is still salvageable." Fassad said before sighing. "I appreciate your calm attitude in all this. Any other kid in your shoes would be throwing a tantrum, crying or breaking down in hysteria."

"Yeah… well you trained me well, Fassad." Claus gave a small smile. "And I won't turn my back on Master Porky or the Pigmask army. I still wish to help rebuild the world."

"That's good. But don't push yourself anymore, I'll take over for you until you feel you're up to returning as the Commander. Your new uniform will be waiting for you at the base as always, it's a replica of the old one."

"Thanks, Fassad." Claus said with gratitude. "But… don't you at least have a new bracelet? I rather not get caught so soon."

"Unfortunately no, but I'll keep Kumatora away from you for a while. Lucas don't seem to notice your PSI because it's so similar to his own. We'll have a new bracelet for you by the time you check out of the hospital." Fassad said. "Now get some rest, you'll need some time to adjust."

"... Could you let Lucas come back at least?" Claus asked.

"... Are you sure? If you both fall asleep there's a good chance you'll end up back in Lucas's Magicant again." Fassad said skeptically.

"I-I know… but… I want to spend some time with my brother… please." The ginger haired boy said quietly.

"Very well, just… try to be careful." Fassad said tiredly and Claus could see the Magypsy hadn't had much sleep recently. Did Magypsies needed as much sleep as humans did? Claus didn't know, but Fassad certainly looked tired.

"Thanks…" Claus said, feeling bad for Fassad but knew not to say anything about it. After all, those in the army must always be prepared for anything, whether it's loss of a limb or loss of sleep.

* * *

 _When Fassad let my twin brother came into my room all I could do was hug him. I'm just glad Kumatora didn't sense enough PSI in me to really confirm I could use PSI. Right now I didn't want to think about PSI or wars or the army, all that mattered to me right now was this moment with Lucas… and I felt his heartbeat and warmth that put me to sleep rather quickly. I didn't care if I ended up in his Magicant right now, I just wanted to stay in my brother's arms._

* * *

 ***The camera came back on with Fyre smiling at it***

 **Donfyre: Oh, hiya again readers! So you're finished with the chapter now, I hope? That's good! As for where Fox is… she's busy right n- *some loud banging is heard near a closet* …. Ignore that, that's the uh… pipes.**

 ***Suddenly the closet door swung open and a piano came crashing down on Fyre. A very angry fox came storming out of it.***

 **DarkFoxKit: Never. Lock. Me. Up. Where. I. Can. Get. A. Weapon. *smiles sweetly at the camera* Hiiiiiii there readers, did you enjoy that nice touching moment at the end with Lucas and Claus? I sure hope so~**

 **Donfyre: *crawls out from under the piano, grumbling* Sadistic fox that conjures pianos out of thin air…. *looks at the camera too* Yeah, at least we didn't end off on much of a cliffhanger this time!**

 **DarkFoxKit: The next chapter is the last chapter of part 2, after that we're moving on to part 3 and answering reviews at the top. Speaking of which, we better get down to it! You wanna start Fyre?**

 **Donfyre: *finally stood back up, albeit dizzily* H-huh? Oh, alrighty!**

 **FanofFiction123: You were squealing that much? Goooood! Don't lose your voice. ^^; But it's nice to know we made you fangirl. XP**

 **Yeeeees, I did see your account! And I also looked through and saw you were right, there are a lot of random oneshots on other pairings. Again, all boys. ^^; I'm not really too much into second-person ship fics, but if you do something like that with a girl then I'll probably give it a read when I find some time!**

 **DarkFoxKit: I like the idea that I could date Lucas or Claus- No, you didn't hear that from me! Ahem… Anyways… my age is private, sorry. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: Same goes for me, sort of. I'm not gonna publicly announce it HERE, but I can probably say through PM's or something. And you could probably guess what my age is anyways when Fox was so rudely stalking on my personal stuffs earlier. *pouts at her***

 **DarkFoxKit: :P Well you locked me up! … Anyways…**

 **Lemon-Man2771: Glad you liked the story so much. :D And don't put yourself down like that, I'm sure you can be a great writer with some practice. And don't worry, as you can see in this chapter Clausy poo's identity is still a secret.**

 **Donfyre: I can never get over that nickname, "Clausy poo". XD**

 **thekingdomheartsfan: You thought so? Cool! Glad to see that you found it so action-packed! :D And now you saw that Claus didn't go psycho…. but he is gonna have to try to live now with only one real eye. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Poor Claus, a lot of bad things seem to happen to him a lot. ^^'**

 **12courtney12: You think Claus would know that after going into shock that Lucas is 'dead'? ^^' After all, just because he was trained as the military commander for two and a half years doesn't mean he can't cry, he is still a child after all. And it's good to know that you may or may not have fangirl squealed in the girl's locker room. XD Yeah, it's too bad they never did a townspeople vs. Pigmask in the game, it could've been pretty neat to watch them try to defend their town before it gets converted. As for Claus removing his helmet, well he wasn't thinking clear, he had thought he just lost his brother, someone very close to him. And thanks for the link, the picture's really cute! :D**

 **Donfyre: Oh, I saw the picture! It was a pretty good doodle! Nice job with it! c: Speaking of Doodles…**

 **Doodles234: Weeeell Claus isn't dead as you saw. So that's probably good news for you!**

 **DarkFoxKit: We're not exactly going to kill one of our main characters after all. ^^' … At least… not this early into the story. :3**

 **Connor the speling pro: Yeah, we kinda figured that out. ^^' It's just a let's play I saw on Earthbound used 'PK' for everything, so I thought we had to. Thanks for the info though.**

 **Claus? Controlling his impulses? … Yeah, sure. He's pretty good with that as the commander, but as Claus who saw his brother 'died', not so much. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: Who knows? These traitors still have a big aura of mystery shrouding them. :3 But jeez, have a little faith in Fassad….. Even though I do have a scalding hatred for the man too, under normal circumstances. ^^;**

 **Oh, we did good with some of the details of this intense battle scene? Yay! Glad to see that! c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: Glad to know you like the little details we put into the characters too. :)**

 **Jack Waters: First off, I want to say; congratulations, you're our 100th reviewer! And as you can see; no, Lucas did not die.**

 **Donfyre: Nice. Now we'll always remember the 100th reviewer as the one who dropped the f-bomb. XP**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan: Use those references. c:**

 **Yep, we write our reviews the day before updating! Your welcome for giving a heads up. :P And nice job at letting a shiny run away. XD**

 **Yeah, it is a little weird, isn't it? That these random renegade Pigmasks just come out of nowhere and act like they own the place? XP But now you can see that they got what they deserved, so they're gone! … For now. :3**

 **DarkFoxKit: It's implied that Fuel has a crush on Angie in both the game and other fanfics, just thought we should stick with tradition. ^^'**

 **Yay, Claus saves the day! But well, after losing his mother two and a half years ago and now thinking he lost Lucas, someone very near and dear to him, I'd be surprised that he didn't throw off the helmet since a lot of hat wearing anime characters would throw down their hats when they're really upset or emotional. And no, nobody else saw his face thankfully for him.**

 **And Lucas is a main character, I don't think we're entitled to kill him this early on in the story. ^^' Doesn't mean it can't still happen though. :P**

 **Thank you for your reviews, glad you enjoyed the chapter! Hope you liked this one too. :D**

 **Donfyre: Yep! And it's nice since you leave pretty lengthy reviews too. c:**

 **Flun: Whoa, this is a huge review you've got here. ^^; But it's nice to see you're trying to touch on every aspect!**

 **It's never really been explained, but it seems like it would make sense if they did. And besides, video game logic dictates that two places that are even right next to each other can have completely different climates. :P**

 **Well… his personality's pretty much always been a sort of silent, utility like person who's skilled in combat despite his limp. But I'm not surprised you feel that way, we kinda just want to focus on what the main characters are going through and details that might add to the coming conflict. But we'll be adding some more bits of side character stuff as time goes on!**

 **Huh, those are some pretty interesting theories you're coming up with there. Let's just say that it has something to do with how Lucas is bonded with Claus. :3**

 **Yeah, it is pretty cruel at what the renegades have to resolve too. But it's nice to see how much you notice that the villagers are standing up for him! He is a sweet boy after all. c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: Okay, my turn! *pushes Fyre to the floor and sits on top of him***

 **Donfyre: Wah!? H-hey! DX *squirms around***

 **DarkFoxKit: Ahem… Well unlike in the games, Tazmily isn't being brainwashed exactly, so of course they remain their nice selves. c:**

 **Anyways, I'm very happy to know that you and just about everyone else here really enjoyed that battle scene. I was worried it'd be too chaotic or too wordy for a lot of people, but I'm glad to see it turned out really well. We figured the different perspectives of each fight will make it more alive and to see what the other characters were doing during it. As for Salsa… well… I wasn't entirely sure how he would fight since all I have is a description of how he fights in the actual game.**

 **Yup, Claus wasted no time to get to the battlefield with his soldiers as quickly as possible. The renegades are dangerous alright, they're really desperate. As for how they got the technology, well let's just say they have a lot of brilliant scientists on their hands too. And well… I imagined the electric ball to be more like Pikachu's Volt Tackle final smash. ^^'**

 **Of course Claus is still protective of Lucas, they may have grown apart but they still really care for each other. Yeah, although I had been debating whether or not to give Claus the red eye since the beginning of the story, in the end we decided to give him one, because it looks really cool and intimidating on him. :3 And poor Lucas, didn't Claus say in an earlier chapter that he and Flint would get a heart attack if they gave him a mechanical eye? ^^' The irony of that is astounding.**

 **I'm glad you understand why Claus did what he did. Yes, Claus is only a 12 year old boy despite what he's been through, so it's natural this would happen to him given the situation. Most people don't seem to get this and asked me why I had him remove his helmet and yelling that he needs to control himself, but one must stop to wonder why it happened in the first place. Thank you again for understanding. :D**

 **At least this time it's not a cliffhanger. Though the next chapter is the last one for part 2 before we move on to part 3, so there's something to look forward to. And you were right, it is in Lucas's Magicant, but it had nothing to do with the mysterious figure, sorry. ^^'**

 **Heh, it was a long review, but we still thank you for it. We love reviews that go into detail with what they like about the story and what they wanna see.**

 **Donfyre: Yeah, it's always nice to see reviews like that to really see people's self-evaluations of the story! Although, not gonna lie, this one was a doozy to respond to. ^^; Anyways…. I think that's all! *looks up at Fox* Now are you gonna get off me? DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: … Nope, you're comfortable to sit on. :3**

 **Donfyre: Get oooooff! *squirms more* Or I'll bite your tail. c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: You do that and you're Goodra bait. Now it's time to say bye-bye to the readers until next time!**

 **Donfyre: *grumbles* You better get off SOON! Anyways readers, hope you enjoyed this thrilling chapter! I'm the co-author Donfyre, and the evil, sadistic fox is the author DarkFoxKit! We look forward to hearing from you guys and see you sooooon!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Hey! That's my line! Get your own outro! DX *waves* But yeah, see ya later, have fun reviewing! :)**


	17. Chapter 17: Conflicting Ideas

**DarkFoxKit: *is on the computer, playing a new game.* OwO**

 **Donfyre: *looks at the camera* Oh, hiya readers! :3 Looks like it's Fox on the computer and not me this time, huh? But I showed her a brand new game recently! It's very fun and if you're a big Mother fan (which I hope you are since, y'know…. you're kinda reading this fanfic) then I highly recommend you play it! c: *looks over at Fox* So how're ya doing so far?**

 **DarkFoxKit: I'm a peaceful player. :3 It's- *notices the camera* O_O We're starting the AN now!?**

 **Donfyre: Hee hee, yep! Think of it as revenge from the last chapter. c: Aaaand I also wanted to show them the game Undertale! Undertale is a great, fun game with a lot of inspiration from Earthbound and the Mother games, so go play it! There's even a demo too, if you wanna get a taste of it first. *looks back at Fox* Soooo… you okay now? XP**

 **DarkFoxKit: *is growling at Fyre* Here, let's play a little game together~ *pushes a button and Fyre suddenly had a live turnip in his mouth***

 **Donfyre: MMPH!? o_O *spits out the turnip* What was THAT for!?**

 **DarkFoxKit: *pushes another button, Fyre starts moving without his consent.* Let's go riiiiiight over here~ *makes him jump down the window***

 **Donfyre: WAAAAAAH! *CRASH!***

 **DarkFoxKit: *looks at the camera* Don't worry, there's a pool out there! … Oh wait… I don't think it was filled today… Uhhhh… Fyre? You okay? ^^'**

 **Donfyre: *groans from outside* Does it…. SOUND like I'm okay? Just…. keep rolling, I'll be fine given a few… minutes… or days, depending on when my bones repair themselves.**

 **DarkFoxKit: … Is it just me or does he get hurt a lot? ^^' Uh anyways… this is the final chapter of part 2, next chapter will be part 3. Now enjoy while I go… make sure Fyre's bones are still intact.**

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Conflicting Ideas**

 _I felt awful when I saw the red eye in contrast to my brother's green eye. It felt like it was my fault that he ended up with that eye. Claus was scared even though he tried to hide it, and all I could do was be there and comfort him. I hugged him in my arms as he passed out on the hospital bed and stayed there with him for a long time. After a few days passed we were both admitted out of the hospital and Claus told me his boss let him have a few weeks off because of what happened to his eye and he wanted to spend more time with me. Admittedly I was happy about that, not that he lost his eye and had it replaced, but that we can spend time together again._

 _So for the next few weeks, almost a month actually, we spent time together as a family again. Dad, Claus, Boney and I… the only thing missing was Mom, but it was still nice. Sometimes I wonder if Claus could understand Boney, because when Boney made a sarcastic comment Claus looked like he's trying to cover up a laugh. Maybe it's just my imagination._

 _In just two months it'll be our birthday... I still didn't know what I'll give to Claus as a present. Two months may seem far away, but I always wanted to plan what I'd give to Claus in advance, otherwise it'll bother me. So I decided to go through the woods and the mountains alone to see if I could find something, and that's when Ionia approached me._

* * *

"Ionia? What're you doing here? Doesn't Aeolia usually live around here?" Lucas asked curiously.

"She does, I'm just visiting today." Ionia said. "It's such a lovely day out here in the peaceful woods, so I decided to come out for some fresh air~"

Lucas thought about something as he remembered his talk with Kumatora and about how PK Love was important for something big, he wanted to know what it was about and he's tired of being in the dark about it. "Ionia… when I first got my PSI, Kumatora and Aeolia once said I was 'the one'. And then some kidnappers began trying to kidnap PSI users, more specifically the one who can use PK Love. I still don't understand why a ninja was sent to kidnap my brother since he can't use it, but what is so special about PK Love?"

"Ah, dear sweet Lucas, you already want to know that~? Oh you bad boy~" Ionia giggled. "We're not supposed to tell you until it's time~"

"And I can respect that. But bad things have been happening to Tazmily and my brother because of this PK Love." Lucas said with a frown. "I don't mean to be rude, Ionia, but after all that I at least deserve an explanation, don't you think?"

The Magypsy looked at Lucas and sighed, "Yes sweetie, I suppose you do. While it's against our code to really tell you about the legend behind PK Love until it's time… you do deserve an explanation after everything you went through. Well I wish I could talk about this with some tea, but I suppose this'll have to do. Have a seat Lucas."

Lucas sat down on the grassy fields as Ionia sniffed some flowers before 'she' began explaining. "You see… underneath this island lies a great dragon. This dragon is as big as this island and it wields great power. So massive and great was this dragon that seven needles were created to put it to sleep under the island. Me and six other Magypsies keep watch over these needles until someone pulls them. These needles are no ordinary needles, they are filled with magic power~ Only the one who can use the legendary PK Love is able to pull the needles. The dragon is called the Dark Dragon and it will inherit the heart of the one who pulls it, whether it's a good or an evil heart."

Ionia stopped talking and smelled the flowers to allow Lucas to let this information sink in. "... There's an all powerful dragon sleeping under the island? … Why would you ever need someone to wake it up?"

"Ah, see this is where it may become a little dark for you." Ionia said. "Are you sure you want to hear this? It may burst your little bubble of this world."

Lucas hesitated before nodding. "If it involves me then I should at least know."

"Very well then~ There is a much bigger world out there other than this little island. However, the world is in such ruin that nothing alive can live out there. It's dead out there. The only reason this place survived is because of the dragon's power, and a handful of survivors used a ship to get here. The survivors erased their memories of the world, in fear that they could destroy the island if they kept their memories, that's why nobody knows anything outside of their own little homes." Ionia sighed.

"... A whole world out there… in ruins…?" Lucas frowned at this.

"Ah, but you see, if one with a good heart releases the Dark Dragon, it will recreate the world. Once the world is reborn, everything will be alive again." Ionia said with a bright smile.

"Really?" Lucas smiled with hope.

"Yes, but I should warn you… if the one who pulls the needles has an evil heart, the Dark Dragon will destroy the world. But if someone good, like you Lucas, pulls it… it'll still destroy the world." Ionia said.

"Wait, w-w-what? But you just said it'll recreate the world, not kill it!" Lucas yelled.

"Oh calm down, Lucas~" Ionia chuckled. "Yes, the Dark Dragon will have to destroy the world before it can recreate it anew."

"... Everyone will survive the catastrophe, right?" Lucas asked.

"That's… hard to say really." Ionia answered. "Nobody can say for sure if anyone would survive the apocalypse, but it would be better for the world and everyone else once it's been reborn."

"But… if nobody's around… what good would it be?" Lucas asked sadly.

"There's still a good chance everyone will survive." Ionia said. "And even if they don't, wouldn't you think it's better for the world and future generations to live in a prospecting world rather than a dead one?"

The blond haired boy didn't answer, not sure if it was a good idea or not. The Magypsy shrugged and said, "You'll probably need some time to think about it. Oh and before I forget, there's one more important little detail. Once you pull the needles, we Magypsies will disappear as the needles no longer need our protection. Isn't that just romantic of us~?"

"W-wait, what? You'll all disappear?" Lucas looked at 'her' with wide blue eyes. "B-but… you… you Magypsies are my mentors! I don't want you to disappear!"

"Oh I know Lucas, but not everyone can live forever. And sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good Lucas." Ionia said. "Don't worry, the time hasn't come yet, but at least think about what I said, okay? I want you to be ready when it is time."

Lucas looked down, wondering if maybe it would've been better to have stayed in the dark after all. "Y-yeah… this is definitely something I need to think about…"

* * *

 _It had come to me in a big shock. There was some dragon as big as this entire island and it will destroy and reborn the world, there's no guarantee anyone would survive it. And the Magypsies will disappear once their needles are pulled… I didn't tell Ionia this, but I never want 'the time' to come. But this seems selfish of me… would it really be better to destroy this world in order for it to be reborn with life? I laid in bed that night, with Claus sleeping beside me. I've noticed he's wearing that bracelet Fassad gave to him before we left the hospital, but why does he always sleep with it? I don't know, but I'm mostly thinking about what Ionia said right now._

 _If the world really is in such a desolated state… it would be better to reborn it again with life, right? But I don't want anyone to die… Ionia said there's a good chance they'll survive, but it still worries me._

* * *

Claus rolled over and faced his brother. "Lucas? … Are you still awake?"

"Hmm? O-oh, sorry Claus, did I wake you?" Lucas asked, feeling a little guilty he might've done something to wake his brother up. Claus was always a light sleeper, and lately he's been such a light sleeper that a simple wind blowing outside could wake him up.

"I just felt your tension, Lucas." Claus said. "Is something wrong?"

"O-oh… you felt that? It's… not much, really." Lucas hesitated, still feeling guilty for waking up Claus.

Claus shook his head and put a hand on Lucas's shoulder. "C'mon Lucas, we're brothers. I know something's bothering you, so you can say what it is. Even though I've turned into… this." Claus moved his mechanical arm around while putting another hand on his red eye. "I'm still your brother, and I want to make sure I'm there for you."

Lucas gave a sigh, he knew Claus wanted to prove he's still the twin brother he loved. It's not that Lucas didn't trust him, but it's not really something that's easy to talk about either. Still, maybe Claus may know what to do. "Um… Claus… say this… really old building that's been around for many years. And someone wants to turn it into a brand new hotel inn or something… do you think it's right for them to tear it down in order to build something new over it or keep it there because it's been there for so long? I mean lots of plants and animals must've made their homes there, is it really right to destroy them too just to make a new hotel inn?"

Claus blinked, not really expecting that kind of question. He played along anyways. "Well… it's kinda like what the Pigmasks did here. We were a small little village until the Pigmasks came, and even though not everyone liked what they were doing at first… we got used to it. And now they're even helping us in a lot of ways. That hospital's helped saved a ton of lives in accidents. So I guess… maybe not tear down the building, but to reform it and make it a better place." Claus tilted his head at Lucas. "Why do you ask?"

"Reform it?" Lucas asked before frowning a bit. "But… what if the building is in such a state that it can't simply be rebuilt? That it HAS to be taken down in order for it to be better?"

Claus frowned at this. "I don't think there's anything that gets to a state that it _can't_ be fixed. If you put your mind to it, you could rebuild anything. Even if it takes a lot of work, rebuilding something could make the most people happy by preserving something and at the same time making something better about it."

This had Lucas thinking. "... Well… I don't know… Mr. Lighter and Fuel had to tear down their old house after seeing how badly burnt down it became before they could build a new one. They said they couldn't fix such a burned down house since the woods would just collapse on them if they tried. Maybe some things are better to start from scratch rather than to keep something old that could cause a hazard in the future."

"I guess you have a point… whatever you want to believe, Lucas, that's up to you. If this is really bothering you a lot I'd say just follow your heart. Mom and Dad raised us well enough to know we should follow our hearts when we're not sure what to do." Claus turned in his bed, staying silent for a moment. "... Is that all, Lucas? Is there anything else that was bothering you?"

"... Well…" Lucas hesitated. "I have been wondering…"

"About what?" Claus asked.

"Do you think maybe the Commander would want to be trained to use his PSI better?" Lucas suddenly said.

Claus turned back to Lucas, surprised by this. "The Commander? Why would you want to train him?"

"W-well…" Lucas hesitated, not sure how to word his answer. "I saw the way he fights and how he uses the PSI he has. I don't know if you really understand much of what I'm going to say, Claus, but PSI is a lot more than just a weapon of power. I think that's all the Commander knows about PSI, and… I want to show him how much more it can do."

"PSI is more than just a weapon you say?" Claus said in wonder, it sounded like he was saying that to himself than to Lucas. "Well I know that there are assist PSI like yours, but what else would the Commander of an army use it for anyways? And why are you so interested in training him?"

"Well… after my training with the Magypsies, it made me think about PSI…" Lucas responded, lost in thought. "The entire purpose of it, and of PK Love, now that the Commander probably has it. I think it could help him a lot if he knew how to use it more than just a weapon for his army…"

Claus seemed hesitant and a bit troubled about that, though Lucas isn't sure why. Then Lucas remembered Claus had a job there and he probably knew the Commander better than Lucas did. "Is the Commander strict, Claus? What kind of guy is he? I mean he seemed to freak out when I got hurt during the battle." The blond haired boy asked curiously.

"Oh, h-he did, did he?" Claus said, a little nervous how to answer that. "Well… I guess… he really cares about protecting Tazmily and the people here. He's not really that strict… maybe a little nervous at times…" Claus recalled the time where he was forced to endure a long train ride with a questioning Lucas. He didn't want to go through something like _that_ again.

"Yeah, he did seem pretty shy around me. But I get the feeling he's really nice… and he felt familiar somehow… like I met him before." Lucas said with a smile. "I can't help but get the feeling we'd be great friends if he gave me a chance, you know? Maybe that's why I want to teach him more about PSI myself."

"Really, that's what you feel about him?" Claus asked. Lucas nodded his head firmly. "Well… I guess you might be able to, b-but he's really busy all the time from what I see… I don't know if he would accept your offer…" _What would happen then?_ Claus thought to himself. _If Lucas asked me that while I was dressed as the Commander… what would I say?_

The blond haired twin gave a sigh as he turned on his back on the bed and laid his head upside down to Claus. "It could still happen. Maybe the next time I could talk to him again I could ask him. He might make better use of his PSI if he ever finds out how to use it more than just for battles all the time. If only the Magypsies could've taught him… but I'd still be more than happy to try teaching him myself, maybe I could get to know him better in the process. Does he ever take off his helmet, Claus? Do you know what he looks like without it?"

"W-what he looks like?" Claus stuttered, a little taken aback. "U-um… noooo, I don't think anyone besides some of the much higher ranks in the Pigmask army has seen him without that helmet…"

"Aww, that's too bad. Guess I'll have to try asking him if I ever see him again." Lucas sighed.

Claus looked a little hesitant before he said, "Um… you… you really think the Commander would be someone you could be friends with?"

"He does seem to care about me and the people of Tazmily, so why not?" Lucas asked.

"He's still a trained commander of a military army. I'm not sure if he would want to sit down and listen to a 12 year old on how to use PSI." Claus said, sounding a little forced.

"... R-really?" Lucas responded, sounding a little disappointed at Claus's response. "He seemed really nice when I met him… but you were right, he was kinda nervous and busy looking. Maybe I could tell him that it might help him a lot in his future, being able to use PSI for more than just fighting."

"Whatever you say, Lucas." Claus sighed. "Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

"... Yeah I guess. Thanks for talking to me, Claus… I feel much better now." Lucas said with a smile.

Claus looked at his brother and smiled himself, he always liked seeing his brother smile. "If you ever need to talk I'm always here to listen."

* * *

 _After that I've finally made up my mind. While there's no guarantee that anyone would survive it I still think there's a good chance the dragon would spare everyone's lives if it inherits my heart. I wouldn't let anyone die. We won't survive for long if the world remains in ruins anyway, what if one day this island dies off too? It'll be better for everyone if I pulled those needles when the time comes and I'll be sure nobody has to die. Now my only dilemma is… finding a good birthday present for Claus. Maybe I can ask my Dad for some advice…_

 _The next morning when I asked Dad about a possible present for Claus he suggested something small and easy to carry. Then he told me that Mom gave him a special badge a long time ago and he's kept it with him ever since… A badge huh? Maybe I could make one for Claus…_

 _During these past two months, I've worked on Claus's present. He was called back into his job again, but he still tries his best to bond with us whenever he's home. I appreciate that he's still trying, but it's not the same as when he's home all the time. Precious memories are always something I cherished, and I wanted to remind Claus of that, so I'm making him a Memory Badge… well that's my own name for it anyways. I can't believe how fast these two months came and went, because before I knew it, it was already the day before our birthday. I was glad I finished the Memory Badge a few days ago, now I just have to give it to Claus tomorrow. I hope he likes it._

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: *has Fyre in bed all wrapped up in gauze again* Sheesh, I think we should keep you in a bubble in these ANs.**

 **Donfyre: *grumbles* "Is it just me or does he get hurt a lot?" Reeaaaally Fox, just noticed that now? DX And even if I was in a bubble you'd, I dunno… play volleyball with it!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Don't be silly; I don't play sport. :P And uh… oh hey readers! Glad to see you made it down here. Yeah, the chapter was pretty short, but it was mostly just a transition from part 2 to part 3.**

 **Donfyre: Yep! And as a last reminder, we'll be doing AN's primarily up top, sooo…. maybe that'll give Fox here less of an excuse to hurt me TOO badly. *looks at her***

 **DarkFoxKit: Nah, we'll just be putting the reviews on top starting next chapter, doesn't mean we can still have our outro down here. :3 *sprays a potion on Fyre's wounds* Now shall we begin?**

 **Donfyre: Ow! That stings! DX … Oh, THAT was the proposition? Whoops, must have mixed it up. Anyways, yeah, let's begin!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Alright, here we go!**

 **Doodles234: Well Claus is under direct order from Porky and Fassad not to tell him, he can't just disobey them. And yeah, I love their brotherly moments too! :3**

 **Donfyre: Oh, like Fox you like the tender brotherly moments too? Fox loves those moments, while I'm… okay with them. ^^;**

 **12courtney12: There is no escaaaaape for Claus! :3 And you've been doing practice on literary devices on our story? Cool! Even though we… don't really think about what the literary devices are in the story, we just kinda plan the plot and write. ^^; And your welcome! Your doodle was goooood. c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: You might not want to use our story for learning literary devices. ^^' Still, we're flattered that you did. And yeah, your doodle's awesome! Also… Claus cannot escape because he's too cool as his canon self, mwahahahaha!**

 **thekingdomheartsfan: We're adorable, huh? *smirks at the blushing Fyre* Good to know. :)**

 **Heh, you're gonna hate the future chapters if you have evil cliffhangers. :3**

 **Yeah, we feel it's important to bring the characters to life whenever we work on a story.**

 **Donfyre: Did you have to announce that I was blushy!? DX A-anyways… glad to see you liked it!**

 **Wait what: YEAH THAT'S WHAT. X3 …... Even though I don't know exactly WHAT you're talking about. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: … wait, what?**

 **FanofFiction123: Thank you for enjoying the chapter~**

 **Heh, yeah, poor Claus, unable to keep things hidden from Lucas. And Kumatora's a sharp one, isn't she? :3**

 **I like fuzzy and cute endings too. :D**

 **Request a story? ^^'**

 **Donfyre: The shiiipping one, Fox! :3**

 **DarkFoxKit: Uh… I don't know what to request. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: Phooey. *pouts* Weeeeell she already has one-shots of the main boys, I think, from when I glanced at her story. ^^; Anyways…**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: Uh… you alright there? But we're glad you really liked that chapter and it really pulled on your emotions that much! c: And… glad to know we still have cute nicknames. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: We're good with pulling heartstrings it seems. :3 And glad to know we still have our cute nicknames.**

 **Connor the speling pro: It's true that he could easily be a very good liar and actor, it does look like he could turn traitor and say the truth of what he's really doing. But I won't say if that's true or not, just keep reading. ;)**

 **Well Claus was trained to follow orders, especially from Porky and Fassad. They have told him to never reveal himself to Lucas or anyone else no matter what, and he really doesn't want to disobey them. And if you know how I work, I tend to stall a lot with big surprises. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: Well…. in that situation I think I'd stall for time with that too, even if the prospect of getting away seems inevitable. Lying would seem like a lot easier and less painful of a prospect in each encounter, so why risk it? Anyways, yeah, it is scary that he's slooooowly seeming to turn into a chimera. ^^; Who knows what might become of him and his body later in the future? :3**

 **Orangeflight of Shadowclan: Aww, you didn't? That's a shaaame. *ppotus* At least you thought the chapter was good though!**

 **Carrot sunflower? Interesting nickname. ^^; But wow, lots of yas are wondering what will happen to Claus's body from this point. Who knoooows? :3**

 **Yeah, it is pretty sad at that point, and rereading it even still makes me a little teary-eyed and sympathetic (Fox here makes a good Claus. :P ).**

 **Claus has had a lot of close calls lately, hasn't he? But yeah, Fassad to the rescue! XP**

 **Well he just used an awesome, all-powerful PSI after already being physically and mentally worn out. Of course he'd pass out! :P …. But I agree, it would have been awesome. c:**

 **Another one who loves sibling fluffiness? ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: What was the last chapter's SpongeBob references then? I'm quite curious. ^^'**

 **And sibling fluff for the win! :)**

 **Yeah, I think Fuel/Angie was implied in the game, if you look closely I guess. And I'd imagine Fuel just wouldn't know what to do if his dad wasn't around to help Kumatora and Wess, so that's probably what he meant, but maybe he does have a bit of a rude nature in him. :P**

 **I don't watch a lot of anime, but I can easily get sucked into one. ^^' I don't usually spend time with upset people too. *looks at Fyre* Though if they're my friend I try to help them through it. And it would've been interesting if someone DID see Claus's face. :3**

 **Nah, we wouldn't wanna kill our favorite blond haired psychic boy… right? :3 And this review is pretty long either way, so thank you!**

 **Cobalt: The Magypsies aren't like that, they can sense what's in a person's heart, and since both Claus and Lucas have good hearts in this story I don't think they mind which one of the two pulls their Needle, though Lucas would be more agreeable than Claus since he doesn't want to pull any of the Needles.**

 **Donfyre: Yeah, Claus here doesn't really have an evil heart in this story (kinda sorta Role Reversal c: ).**

 **DarkFoxKit: Technically Claus didn't have an evil heart in the canon either, just… neutral apparently. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: BLAH! In the canon the Magypsies said they couldn't even sense a heart in Claus, so… it's sorta evil because he was manipulated! *pouts* A-anyways...**

 **Flun: Really? Weeeell… even though we're close to part 3… we still have quite a lot left of this story. ^^; So don't feel too bad, there's still a lot more excitement to come! c: And I hope you're safe from the hazing. ^^;**

 **Oh? Someone who actually LIKES having Claus be handicapped? You monster. … I'm kidding, sowwy. ^^; But it does give a good excuse for the two brothers to have some heart-to-hearts! c: And I'm pretty sure that that no one would get used to losing an eye that quickly. :P Glad to see that you really like how Claus finally has a place to vent his problems in a comforting way though! As for Magicant, on the outside he's telling the truth of how he's really feelings but knows internally that he does NOT want to be saying this stuff in front of Lucas. It's sort of a reverse effect compared to actuality. Instead of saying lies on the outside and keeping the truth on the inside, Claus is forced to say the truth while internally suffering from doing so in Magicant. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Aww, it's nice to see Claus showing emotion without being judged. :3**

 **Well we're not sure if the eye is canon or not, but after seeing a lot of fanart with him having the eye I just can't picture him as the commander without it. ^^' And yes, the eye IS one of the most sensitive parts in our external body, and I too wear glasses. :) Claus woke up with the eye already there, so the whole process didn't have time to scare him, he was more freaked out that they already replaced it before he could even give his consent about it. And he does have a strong fear of becoming a chimera, especially since he's already looking like one. I mean it's very easy to have one think you're a chimera with all that stuff on you, even if it's only two of your body parts that were replaced. And yeah, Lucas would take the world for his brother Claus. :3**

 **Heh, well I don't know if that's how PK Love actually works, but it does make sense since that's what it is. Since Claus didn't want anyone of his allies in the army and anyone in Tazmily village to be hurt, his PK Love didn't hurt them and only hurt the renegades. And the ending of Mother 3… oh that ending. X(**

 **Well this is the end of part 2, so seems the end of your long rant for it too. I hope you enjoyed the story so far and be ready for part 3 next week! And Tonda Gossa to you too!**

 **Donfyre: Hee hee, can't help but notice at how angry you are at that ending to Mother 3, Fox. I, personally, like that ending. c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: Are you kidding me!? It whole thing just ENDS with the world being torn apart! Oh sure we hear that everyone is okay, except maybe the Pigmasks- does that mean Isaac died too?- but we don't get to see the supposedly new utopia, we don't even get to see the Dragon, the very thing that was being built up on! I just find it a waste to end off like THAT! Okay, I get the ending's meant to be ambiguous for the player to interpret for themselves, but I despise those kinds of ending, I like closure, a proper closure!**

 **Donfyre: … You finished with that rant? ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: … *grumbles* Now I know a lot of you will disagree with me and say you loved the ending because of this reason and that reason. I don't care, I really don't. You can love the ending, fine, and I understand there's a good reason for the ending, okay, but that doesn't change the fact that I wished we could've gotten more than that.**

 **Donfyre: A lot of people will most likely agree with you, Fox. ^^: I'm sure a lot of the readers here were disappointed too. But I'm not a lot of people. X3**

 **DarkFoxKit: Well anyways, I'm done with my rant. What do you guys think of the story so far? *picks Fyre up out of bed* And you think I should put Fyre in some kind of bubble for part 3?**

 **Donfyre: Wah!? DX No! No bubble!**

 **DarkFoxKit: There's gotta be a safe spot for you somewhere. ^^' Anyways folks… I am DarkFoxKit, this is Fyre, and we look forward to hearing from you!**

 **Donfyre: See all of yas in the next part! And please no bubble. c:**


	18. Chapter 18: A Nice Conversation

**DarkFoxKit: *Is carrying a sleeping Wooper in her paws and gently putting him in bed* Shhhh… Donfyre is really tired guys, so I'm letting him sleep while I-**

 **Donfyre: *eyes immediately shot open at that* Heeeey… are you already starting the AN without me?**

 **DarkFoxKit: Wah! *falls on her back* Geez, how can you just wake up like that? You're tired, so sleep! I'll handle the AN tonight!**

 **Donfyre: *is standing on her chest* But that doesn't mean I don't wanna help you! Sure, I might not be very… stable while talking, but I still wanna help! *pouts***

 **DarkFoxKit: Oh boy… I guess we better make this quick then. -_-' You're such a hard worker, you're making me look lazy! … Actually I am lazy. Review time!**

 **Donfyre: H-hey! Are not! *frowns at her* … Oh, right, reviews at the top now. Forgot we're on Part 3 already.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yup! Hard to believe we've come to Part 3 already. :3**

 **FanofFiction123: Glad to know you love waiting for our chapters every week. :D**

 **Well the reason why I have no request is because I'm not at all familiar with your work. ^^'**

 **And yeah, that was the idea; having the title brought in for the end of Part 2. And thanks, I might put him in a bubble when he's not so tired. :)**

 **Donfyre: Still haven't taken a gander at her stuffs? Aww… sorry about that FanofFiction! I guess Fox will take a look at it… when she feels like it. ^^; Though you already did oneshots of Lucas and Claus, so that might be good enough. XP And wah to the bubble! That's like the only vote we got and of course it votes for the bubble! DX**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: Uh…. thanks, I guess? ^^; Good to know I'm the new him and he used to get hurt even more than me… I guess.**

 **DarkFoxKit: … Donfyre isn't Key, he's Fyre. He's his own author and writes differently from Key. So please, just call him Fyre or whatever nickname you give him. Nobody wants to be a replacement to someone else.**

 **12courtney12: Of course, always trying to help liven Monday up. :) Yeah, personally I like it when twins are the opposite of each other rather than being clones. Heh, yeah, that's the idea since we both love Mother 3. And I hope the beginning of part 3 doesn't disappoint.**

 **Donfyre: It's nice to know we're the kind of authors who unintentionally put in some good literary elements. Especially dramatic irony. c: And I think you'll look forward to what Part 3 will be like!**

 **Guest: Uh… I'm not exactly sure what part you're talking about… ^^; Besides, y'know, Claus and Lucas having a little argument.**

 **DarkFoxKit: … Unless you haven't read the story and just skipped over to this chapter, you should know what the heck is happening. And if you're confused about something, at least specify what it is so we can explain it.**

 **The-Great-Me-sama: Yeah, Claus took a vacation, but we didn't really show it since it would just be filler.**

 **Yeah, it's easy to try to cover something like that up.**

 **Claus's new eye does complicate things, but it looks pretty cool on him. :3**

 **And yeah, all that is true, but sometimes even intelligent people can miss obvious things due to overthinking it. ^^' That actually happens a lot in real life.**

 **Donfyre: *is looking at Fox* Is that supposed to meeeeaan something about how I didn't know that Claus was the Masked Man until it was revealed by Flint?**

 **DarkFoxKit: E-eh? It didn't even cross my mind. ^^' No, of course not! Heh, heh, heh… heh…**

 **Donfyre: *pokes her with my tail* If you say so with that nervous laugh. :P Anyways, yeah, you make it seem like it's the most obvious thing in the world that Claus and the Commander are connected, but like Fox said, sometimes things that may seem obvious don't really cross people's minds.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Though that was a funny scene you put up there. :D And yes, poor Claus didn't know what he just set himself up for in the future. And as for the AN getting too long… well… it's hard to keep it short when we're answering back to all our reviewers.**

 **Donfyre: Yeah, especially some of those who write reeeaaally long reviews. And it's not like we don't like those reviews, we love getting really in-depth reviews! They're just a lot to respond to. ^^;**

 **Doodles234 : Yeah, being twins they are closely bond to each other. Who knows what will happen in the future if Lucas decides to pull the Needles? c: If that does happen it'll be difficult to comfort each other… or cuddle or snuggle, even though I'm still not comfy with that thought. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Fyre here doesn't like sibling fluff too much. Personally I think it works well with Lucas and Claus, and it's why I like it so much. X3**

 **Connor the speling pro: Heh… blame all that anime I've watched. ^^' That and Danny Phantom.**

 **Lucas isn't oblivious, he just doesn't think it's possible for his brother to be the Commander himself. If you don't think it's possible, chances are you're not going to connect the dots no matter how much evidence point to it. Even a smart person wouldn't or at least deny the possibility at all. And I doubt Lucas would just know it's Claus even if he sees the Commander again.**

 **Oh trust me, Lucas was freaking out on the inside, but I don't see him as the type to let out his emotions that much. Especially since it's supposed to be a secret. And yeah, I figured you'd love that little discussion there. ;P**

 **Donfyre: You seem like the kind of person who likes heated debates between ideals. XP You'd probably like some of the future set-ups we have then! c:**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan:**

 **DarkFoxKit: I think a lot of people needs to work out their chaotic schedules. *looks at the tired Wooper***

 **Donfyre: *my drooping eyelids snapped open* Huh? H-hey! DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: You know it's true. :P Anyways, yeah anyone would be unsure about something as big scaled as that. There's no guarantee anyone would survive if Lucas pulls the Needles.**

 **And as for the reference of the title, that was the point. ;) We wanted to show how much the brother's point of view differed from each other since the story began.**

 **Oh yes, it's definitely going to be a problem in the future.**

 **Yeah, I figured the Memory Badge would be a good fitting name for what Lucas made for Claus. And you'll see what Claus got him in this chapter. ;3**

 **Yeah, the transition is supposed to be short as it ends off Part 2. And the AN isn't exactly going to be short since we answer back all our reviews, including long ones like yours. We love your in-depth reviews, don't get me wrong, but it does take a lot to respond to. So we're moving our responses at the top this time so the AN won't take over the bottom and have the estimate bar disappoint you that the chapter itself isn't as long as you hoped, although this chapter is pretty dang long.**

 **Donfyre: Hmm, you've got a point about the "carrot sunflower" nickname. I think even Fox here can relate to that nickname. *looks over at her to see her blushing* :P**

 **Oooh, when you cry I'll see that as an accomplishment! … Sorry, that sounded horrible. ^^;**

 **I loved that movie! It was basically my childhood, and I remember that exact line. c: Though… this is more of a "find the legendary PK Love user" search than a "find the baby who blows bubbles" search. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Fun fact; I had that line in my head when we wrote that part too. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: You did? Well, lookit that Orangeflight! You were both thinking the same thing. :3 Anyways, yeah, Fuel is just a little kid. Can't expect him to have no innocence already. :P**

 **DON'T WATCH SWORD ART ONLINE! ….. Well, I haven't actually watched it myself since I also don't watch anime, just Pokemon, but our friend Key says it's terrible, sooooo…. yeah. ^^;**

 **You never know what we'll do, he could be killed next chapter. c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: Key talked a lot about how bad Sword Art Online is. I haven't seen it, but I have seen reviews on it. Personally I think it depends on your preference, you'll either like it, hate it or are indifferent to it.**

 **Flun: You took a train here? ^^' And it is rather funny how you're the last reviewer to every chapter so far. But that's fine with us, since you tend to leave the longest review, it's fitting you'd be the last one.**

 **Yeah, Lucas isn't too happy thinking that people could die if he pulls the Needles, the young boy is still innocent after all. And I gotta give Ionia's dialogue credit to Fyre here, he makes great impressions of these characters. ;)**

 **Claus and Lucas have different ideals because of who their mentors are. Claus's being Fassad and Lucas's being Kumatora and the other Magypsies. And it shows in their discussion. And the people of the village are still mistrusting to the Pigmasks because of the forest fire, and they're not sure who's side they're on since they're fighting with people who are supposedly Pigmasks too. It's easier to destroy trust than it is to gain it after all.**

 **Donfyre: As much as the Amiibo concept is (sorta) cool, I don't liiiike them! DX Mainly 'cause of those prices… *grumbles***

 **A-anyways, nice to see you support Claus actually keeping his secret rather than spilling everything. You present some nice instances for why that could be the case. :P**

 **Hope you liked this beginning part of Part 3! And even though that viral photo is completely done now, I personally used to think that the dress was blue and black. c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: … I have no idea what dress you guys are talking about.**

 **Donfyre: *blinks at her* Never heard of #thedress?**

 **DarkFoxKit: … Uh… no…? ^^'**

 **Donfyre: Get with the tiiiimes! :P … Though it was a pretty weird and kinda stupid meme when it first became viral. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: What can I say? I don't tend to keep up with these things. Anyways, it's very easy to see where the conflict's going to come from in this story. ^^' Whew, looks like we're finally done. Fyre, you can sleep now- Fyre?**

 **Donfyre: *has already collapsed in front of her* Zzzzz….**

 **DarkFoxKit: Heh… *pulls a blanket over him* Goodnight Fyre. *looks at the camera* Enjoy the chapter guys, and hey, looks like we got through an AN where he didn't get hurt! I am DarkFoxKit, this is Donfyre, and we look forward to hearing from you!**

* * *

 **Chapter 18: A Nice Conversation**

Claus was working on something at his desk. Fassad had just walked in to check the paperwork and noticed the young Commander hadn't gotten much done today. "You haven't done much paperwork today, is everything alright Commander?"

The ginger haired boy looked up at the Magypsy and said, "Well… tomorrow is my and Lucas's birthday. I've been working on a good present to give to him this year, Dr. Andonuts gave me the blueprints and materials I needed. I've been working on it myself for months and it's almost done, just trying to work out the bugs."

"Oh, is that it?" Fassad asked. He glanced at whatever Claus was working on: a small, metallic-like object. "Ah, I see. I think Dr. Andonuts showed me a glimpse of it. It would be a great addition for everyone in the army, but it would drain us of too much of our resources."

"Yeah, the materials are hard to come by." Claus said with a nod. "But I figured this would be good for my brother just in case he gets into a scuffle again. Apparently the renegades created some ultimate weapon that uses electricity. This badge should be able to deflect that no matter the voltage, an amazing piece of work if I do say so myself. But there's a small problem with this one… I can't seem to get it to deflect the lightning back. I've tried it on a test dummy and all it's done is make a lighting rod out of itself."

"Really? Well, I can't say I know the mechanisms well enough to help you." Fassad simply said, walking back towards the door. "Just don't stress or work yourself out too much, you still have a job to do as the Commander. Since it's your birthday tomorrow, we'll give you a day off. If I don't see you tomorrow, then… Happy birthday! Hopefully you'll feel more energized with your day off."

"Right, thanks." Claus nodded to him. The young Commander appreciated that he gets days off during special occasions like during the Holidays or his birthday, but he really wanted to make this gift perfect.

* * *

It was later that evening when Claus's job as the Commander was done for the day, he visited Dr. Andonuts' lab again, carrying his helmet by his side. "Ah Commander, you here for your inspection?"

Claus chuckled sheepishly as he remembered he skipped out on his inspection last time. "Uh… sure, but I also wanted to ask you about the present I've been working on."

"Go right ahead, Commander." Dr. Andonuts said as he began sticking the wires into his semi-mechanical arm.

"I've finished the design and most of its functions. It can take electricity but it can't deflect it. I can't figure out what's wrong." Claus said as the short doctor began checking the machines.

"Ah, _that_ mechanism." Dr. Andonuts said, pushing some random buttons and recording various data. Claus once tried to understand what all the random numbers that Dr. Andonuts wrote down about his inspection meant… it didn't end well, let's just say he had a headache all night after that. "The deflection of a large quantity of energy off of metal is a rare property. You can have it be done artificially, but you'll need to find someone with a talent of doing that."

Claus frowned. Sometimes the doctor was kind of complicated when explaining stuff, but he would usually get the gist of it. "But where would I find someone who can do that? I doubt even the best craftsmen of Tazmily would be able to do it… And what about you, Dr. Andonuts?"

The old man just chuckled. "Honestly, I have no idea how that doo-dad of a property works. I do know that a certain species has a way of 'cleaning' a metal to make it do that though… but for all I know they probably don't exist in this world. Now turn your hand into cannon mode please."

At this, the young Commander sighed as he turned his arm into the cannon mode without so much of a thought anymore. "But how could I give Lucas an incomplete gift? I made this so he'd be better protected from the renegade in case they attack again, and also so I wouldn't accidentally hurt him with my own lightning attacks."

Dr. Andonuts was recording more data on the machine before he answered, "Perhaps your brother might know someone who could finish the touches on the device."

"It still wouldn't feel right to give him an incomplete gift." Claus sighed.

"He wouldn't _know_ it was incomplete, would he?" Dr. Andonuts said. "I bet he'd still love something like that, and it looks sparkly enough without its reflective sheen."

"I suppose... I just wish I could've gotten the most important part of it done." The young Commander sighed again. "But I guess this is as much as I can do." then he looked at the machine as it began to beep. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hmm…" Dr. Andonuts read the data, which was just binary nonsense to Claus. "Seems it's time for a tune-up and an upgrade for your arm."

"What?" Claus blinked. "Tune-up? Why?"

"Oh, nothing you should worry about too much. You'll just have to stay a few more minutes so I can spruce up that arm of yours, if you don't mind." Dr. Andonuts just explained, hooking up and setting up more wires and machines on Claus.

The ginger-haired boy sighed, not really wanting to stay longer than he had to. While the doctor was doing… stuff on his arm, Claus was looking at the little metal object he's been working on for months.

It didn't take long before Claus felt something tingle in his arm, he looked over to see the machine was beeping and lighting up. The wires on his arm seem to be pumping electricity into the metal parts of his mechanical arm.

"Hey… what exactly are you doing to the arm?" Claus asked. It didn't really hurt, but felt a little funny and strange.

"Just tuning it up. It should be more responsive with your PSI and not consume as much now." The short doctor explained.

Claus waited and watched in wonder as the doctor just shuffled around the machine and checked the data. The boy soon lost interest and began wondering what he should call the device he just made, he knew what it was supposed to be called, but since it doesn't work the way it was meant to maybe he should call it something else. _Lucas always seem to have courage whenever he does something. I mean going all the way to Club Titiboo on foot AND working at the factory just to find me is pretty courageous of him already… so maybe I'll call it the Courage Badge._

The boy smiled to himself as he dubbed the device in his hand the Courage Badge, and soon the machines beeped and the doctor began taking off the wires from his arm. "So it's done?"

"Not quite yet, Commander. Now with the addition of your eye, that too will need a few inspections of its own." Dr. Andonuts said. "Don't want it to malfunction in the middle of battle now do we?"

"Oh… right… the eye…" If Claus didn't look in a mirror or someone didn't point it out, he could just easily forget he had a mechanical eye. "How are you going to check it?"

"Just some things a normal eye doctor would do, added with a few twists of my own." The doctor said. Claus has never really heard of an eye doctor before, but its very name basically told him what they did.

"Um… okay." Dr. Andonuts had Claus lay down with his eyes open. He began inspecting the boy's red eye with a few random tools, and typed some random things on a few machines as he worked. All the while Claus felt very insecure. With every inspection he felt more and more like a machine, and this mechanical eye of his didn't make it any better.

Then the doctor shined a light into his eye, though surprisingly it didn't make Claus want to cringe. There aren't any nerves in the mechanical eye, so he wouldn't feel anything if something or someone were to directly touch it or shine a light in it. Letters and numbers began to appear at random in his eye as Dr. Andonuts began fiddling with it a bit more. Finally, both his eye and the machine beeped in sync with each other.

"Uh… does that mean it's done?" Claus asked hopefully.

"Yep! All finished, this should help a lot more with any future mishaps you get into." Dr. Andonuts said happily as he finished taking out the wires on his arm, shutting down his machines. "Alright, you're all finished! And you didn't run off this time, don't think I didn't know what happened the last time you were here."

"You were going to bring in Lil' Miss Marshmallow. I'm sorry but I still think that robot is crazy!" Claus defended, blushing a bit.

"She's not crazy! She just had a few bugs to work out is all!" The balding doctor argued back.

"I still don't trust her." The young Commander grumbled. "Well if that's all I'll be on my way. I want to get home soon because tomorrow's a very special day for my brother and I."

"Oh, of course! Don't want to keep you from a special event like that. Happy birthday, Commander!" Dr. Andonuts said as Claus was going on his way.

"Thank you." Claus said with a small smile as he head into his room.

In the Commander's room, he took off his Commander's coat, pants and boots, also detaching the silver box winged jetpack off his back. Leaving him in his casual teal and yellow striped shirt and red shorts and he put on his blue-ish shoes. The boy took the silver bracelet out from the coat's pocket and snapped it onto his wrist. Claus picked up the Courage Badge and placed it in his pocket before heading out the door.

* * *

 _I used the Pork Bean to take me back to Tazmily, glad I was getting a day off tomorrow as I don't get too many of those unless I'm recovering from a serious injury. I still can't believe tomorrow is going to be our 13th birthday, and the next day after that… it will mark the third year anniversary of Mom's death. I just relaxed in the Pork Bean until the Colonel announced we were here. I gave him my thanks before heading up to the graveyard of Tazmily. However, I may have been a little careless…_

"Whoa Claus! Where'd you come from?" Claus jumped back in shock when he saw Fuel was there.

"F-Fuel! Uh… wh-what's up? I… I was just… uh… visiting Mom's grave and heading back home." Claus quickly said, still reeling from Fuel's sudden appearance and really hoped the boy didn't see him coming out of one of the graves.

"But isn't Hinawa's grave on the otherside of-" Fuel began to say.

"I just wanted to get some exercise too, nothing wrong with that!" Claus quickly said, feeling flustered.

"Uh… isn't it a little weird to be exercising in the graveyard?" The brown haired boy said, a little confused. "Most people usually go to the forest or mountains if they want to walk a little. But here… it's kinda creepy."

"Well… I'm kinda in a hurry, so I thought I'd just… walk around here a bit and head back home right after!" Claus quickly said. He wanted to slap himself for his lame excuses.

Fuel just gave Claus an even more confused look than before. "Okaaaay then. If you say so."

"Don't you have someone else to see? Like Angie maybe?" Claus suddenly said, knowing all about Fuel's little crush on the bakery's girl. "What are you even doing here anyway?"

Fuel frowned and blushed a bit from that Angie comment. "H-hey, I'm not _always_ at her side! And anyways I came here to deliver something to the grave keeper. He ordered some big wooden box to put for his Happy Box and I was just leaving when I suddenly saw you here."

"Well whatever, it's getting late so we should get back home now." Claus said with a sigh.

"Um… how late are we talking?" Fuel suddenly asked nervously.

"Why does it matter?" The ginger haired boy asked tiredly.

"Didn't you hear the stories? They say zombies will start coming out here once the sun goes down. They never leave the graveyard, but they will eat anyone that's still alive around here!" Fuel shouted with a horrified face.

"That's just a ghost story to keep kids out of the graveyard at night. There's no such things as zombies!" Claus rolled his eyes at the very idea of it.

"But even Duster said so, he was out here one time and a bunch of zombies attacked him!" Fuel gulped, his arms outstretched to make his point.

"Did you _see_ him with all those zombies attacking him?" Claus asked him skeptically.

"Well, uh… no." Fuel answered, a little flustered. "But he still said that, and I don't think he was lying! … Even if he _is_ a thief."

"I don't know Duster all that well, other than he sometimes talks to my brother." Claus said. "For all we know he's just saying that to sound cool. Now for the last time there isn't any undead trying to crawl out from their graves to eat us! But if you're _that_ worried then maybe we should go home now."

Suddenly they heard what sounded like moaning. Both boys froze before Claus looked over at Fuel, "Hey, if you're doing that on purpose just to scare me… please stop, because it's working."

"Th-that wasn't m-me!" Fuel squeaked in fear.

Frowning at this, Claus closed his eyes and secretly tapped into his robotic eye before he opened them again and looked around. Since he didn't have his helmet with him he had to use the eye to try and scan for anything there besides them. And before long, the scanners began picking up life, or rather, semi-life readings all over the place… all of them coming from different graves."What the…!?"

"W-what is it, Claus?" Fuel said nervously. Even though he couldn't sense them like Claus could, he could definitely hear the moans and movements coming from under the ground, shuffling around them.

"U-um…" Claus just managed to stutter. He's faced fierce renegades and had to go through some really harsh training in his beginning years in the Pigmask Army… but he never really thought about possibly encountering the _undead_. "W-we should go! Now!"

Before Fuel could ask anymore, rotting hands suddenly started popping out of the graves, causing Fuel to shriek. The hands began moving around before another pair of hands began popping up and began pulling the bodies out of the ground.

"Go! Go! GO!" Claus pushed the frozen Fuel to move.

The two boys quickly began running down the graveyard as flesh of rotting corpse began rising up from the grave. They moaned as they approached the two boys. Claus gritted his teeth when he saw how quickly they're being surrounded.

 _For people who are dead they sure can move really fast! … I really hope Mom doesn't return as a zombie… I don't think I can stand seeing her like this._ Claus thought to himself as he turned back to look at the other boy behind him. "Hurry, this way!"

"There's too many of them!" Fuel cried.

"Then smack them with a stick or something!" Claus yelled back.

"I- o-okay!" Fuel quickly said. Even though the graveyard was largely desolate, there were still things that could be used as weapons… even if they weren't very effective. Fuel began picking up the largest stick he could find and threw them at the zombies closest to them, trying to clear a path to the exit. Claus grabbed Fuel's wrist and tried to run even faster towards the entrance.

"Almost there!" They hurried faster and faster, but one zombie came out from under the ground and blocked their path.

"Don't leave… we are hungry… and you two boys look so lively enough to eat." The zombie moaned as it approached them.

Claus and Fuel backed away, the ginger boy wondering if he should use his PSI to help him and Fuel escape, but then that would be blowing his secret. "How does the grave digger handle this? He LIVES here for crying out loud!"

"I-I don't know! B-but we're going to be zombie chow!" Fuel trembled behind Claus.

"No, no we're not! This is just one zombie, the rest of them are behind us. We're going to have to charge!" Claus suddenly said.

"Wait- w-what!?" The brown haired boy squeaked.

"Come on Fuel, if you want to live then charge with everything you have!" Claus said. "Ready? One… Two…"

"This is crazy!" Fuel cried in fear.

"THREE!" Both boys yelled as they ran at the zombie, tackling the rotting corpse down. Claus began stomping on its head. "Now move!"

Fuel was staring at the other zombies that were behind them, now beginning to rapidly catch up to them. He seemed stricken with fear, but nodded his head at Claus's command. "Okay!"

The two boys ran as fast as their legs could carry them right to the entrance of the graveyard, and the two wouldn't stop until they were sure that they made it to safety well inside Tazmily, where there were more people about. _Normal_ people.

They both panted when they finally made it into town's square, where people were still out and about. "We… made… it…" Fuel panted. "Are… you sure… the zombies… won't… follow… us?"

"You… you said it… yourself… they never leave… the graveyard." Claus said back, panting a bit himself even though he's in better shape. "Let's… just go home… and pretend that… never happened… okay?"

"Sounds… good… to me…" Fuel nodded in agreement.

* * *

 _Well, after that little adventure with Fuel, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. I was more than happy to get back home._

Boney was by his doghouse when he saw Claus coming, he wagged his tail excitedly. _"Claus! Finally you're here! It's so boring with just Flint and Lucas here, I mean all they do all day is herd the sheep and talk about some big special omelette breakfast tomorrow! Why should I have to hear about that since I never get any myself?"_

Claus was having trouble to keep from laughing at that, but he was surprised when Boney spoke about the omelette breakfast… he had forgotten the last time he ever ate his favorite food. The boy bent over to pet the barking dog. "Hey there Boney, sorry I was a little late today."

" _You're_ always _late!"_ Boney made a whine as he said that. Claus felt a little bad at that statement, but just petted Boney a little more and made for the front door of his house, walking inside.

Upon opening the door he saw his brother Lucas there, carrying a basket full of fresh eggs. Flint was reading something that looks like a recipe book. Claus almost wanted to laugh at that, he knew Lucas could cook pretty well, but he's never seen his father cook before. Claus briefly wondered if this is Flint's way of making his own birthday present for the boys tomorrow.

"I'm home!" he announced to get their attention.

"Huh? CLAUS!" Lucas shouted excitedly, immediately leaping towards the boy and embracing him. Claus did his best to try and stay standing since Lucas now did this almost every time Claus would come back home.

"Wah! G-good to see you too, Lucas." Claus said, smiling sheepishly and giving a hug in return.

"Sooo what'd they say? Are you going to have to work tomorrow?" Lucas asked, his eyes hopeful.

Claus chuckled at that and for once he didn't have to disappoint him. "Oh Lucas, you should know by now they always give me a day off when it's a special occasion, birthdays included! And I've been looking forward to tomorrow for a while too."

"Oh really? Did you have something special in mind tomorrow?" Lucas asked curiously.

"Well let's just say I've been working on something for months just for this occasion." The older twin said with a smile.

"Lucas, Claus, be sure to go to bed early tonight." Flint said. "You should be up bright and early tomorrow to enjoy every last minute of the day."

"Sure thing, Dad." Claus smiled before looking at his brother. "So have you learned anything new yet with your PSI? Have you learned to read minds like Kumatora?"

"Um… not really no…" Lucas said, sounding a little disappointed. "For some reason I can't seem to learn how to read minds as well as the Magypsies or Kumatora can…"

"I guess you just need to have more experience with your PSI then." Claus said. "It might be pretty advanced." He made to put his shoes somewhere, but Lucas quickly noticed of the mess on them, especially one of the shoes.

"Um… what happened to your shoes, Claus? They look a little… messy."

"Huh?" Claus looked down at his shoes. "O-oh… would you believe me if I said I had to stomp on a zombie's head?"

Both Flint and Lucas looked at Claus before Flint said, "Zombies…?"

"... Yeah, I know it's farfetched but we really do have zombies in the graveyard!" Claus quickly said.

"Maybe you should go to bed now, you must be really tired after working all day." Flint suggested. "You too Lucas."

"Do we have to? I just got home." Claus whined, he had been hoping to talk to Lucas more before their birthday tomorrow, and he already knew Flint wouldn't have believed him about the zombie story since he didn't believe Fuel until he saw those undead monsters himself.

"Bed, now." Flint said firmly.

"Fine." Claus sighed as Lucas just chuckled.

Later that night, when both brothers got into their pajamas, Claus noticed something off about his bracelet. "Hmm?" he noticed that it looked a little… cracked. _That's weird, why is the bracelet cracked? I'm sure I didn't hit anything with it… maybe it's getting old? I better tell Dr. Andonuts to make me a new one the day after tomorrow._

The two of them got into bed, and Lucas seemed to buzz a little with excitement. "It's almost our birthday, Claus… our 13th one! We'll be finished with our kid years starting tomorrow…"

"Hard to believe, isn't it? We'll be technically teenagers tomorrow, it's almost like a dream." Claus chuckled, though he felt he already lost his childhood innocence when he was recruited into the army. "Maybe we can finally stay up past our usual bedtime now."

"You think?" Lucas asked, seeming genuinely interested in the thought.

"I hope so. But for now let's just please Dad and go to sleep. I wish we could've enjoyed the last hours of our childhood a little longer, but I am pretty tired myself." Claus said as he yawned a bit before crawling into bed. "So have a good night, Lucas!"

"Yeah, you too Claus!" Lucas said with a smile.

The two brother curled in their beds as they put their blankets over themselves. A little later in the night, Claus's left hand dangled from the bed and the cracked bracelet snapped in two and fell off his wrist and onto the floor.

* * *

 _I think I woke up a little bit… oh well, at least the bed's nice and cozy tonight. I feel like I could lay here forever. I curled up in a tight ball to get warmer… the sunlight kept me nice and war- wait… the SUNLIGHT!? Is it morning already? … It can't be... I_ just _fell asleep! Maybe Dad won't mind if I sleep in a bit… but I already heard footsteps approaching me and someone's shadow looming over my body. I hope Dad doesn't pour cold water on me._

" _Gimme a few minutes please…" I slurred without opening my eyes._

" _... Claus? This is the third time… And uh, how are you tired?" I immediately recognized the voice speaking to me, and slowly opened my eyes with a slight groan, still wanting to sleep in my nice, cozy bed._

" _Lucas…?" I looked above, and sure enough Lucas was squatting down beside me, giving me a concerned look. "What's wrong…? I just wanted to sleep in a few more minutes… I can't believe it's morning already." I groaned and turned over to close my eyes again._

" _Um… do you know where you are?" Lucas suddenly asked me._

" _In my bed, now let me sleep a little longer." I grumbled from my very comfortable position._

" _... Claaaus?" Lucas sounded very suspicious. I cast a quick glance at him, and he a furrowed frown across his face as if he was thinking of something._

" _Yeeees?" I just responded, still curled up from my nice bed. "Look if you have something you want to say, then just say it so I can go back to sleep."_

 _I reached out to grab my blanket so I can pull it over my head… but I felt something… different. "Huh?"_

 _I opened my eyes a little more to see… I was… touching a… sunflower stem? What? My eyes widen as I jolted up, almost hitting Lucas in the forehead. "What the!?"_

 _I quickly looked around my surrounded to see we were on… clouds…? Why are we on clouds? And there were sunflowers growing from the CLOUDS… what is going ON!? This_ can't _be Lucas's Magicant! I had my bracelet on before I fell asleep!_

" _Um, Claus, you're acting weirdly…" Lucas said before his eyes brightened suddenly. "M-maybe… could this really_ finally _be you, Claus?! It's almost our 13th birthday, s-so maybe… you finally got into my Magicant for real!"_

" _Wha-wh-what!? B-b-but… but… you… this…!?" I was beyond confused. There's no way I could've ended up in Lucas's Magicant AGAIN! I_ know _I had my bracelet_ on _! "N-no, this can't be Magi-! I-I mean you… I… You know I can't use PSI!" Calm down Claus! Pull it together before you practically shout at Lucas that you're really Claus!_

 _Lucas frowned. "Y-yeah, you can't, but… you're acting too real this time!" Lucas stopped short for a moment, trying to keep himself from getting too excited. "Maybe this is your first time here…" I heard him say to himself before continuing, "Hey, Claus? Do you know where we are?"_

 _Okay, this is where I need to keep my head and think about very carefully what I'm going to say. Should I tell him I know this is Magicant and I'm not the real Claus? That might be the best way to go, but how I acted back there is way too suspicious… I don't know if I can cover that up, waking up here suddenly really caught me off guard. "We're in your Magicant. I guess you just brought me back here again, but uh… left memory gaps…?" Why did I make that sound like a question!?_

" _You guess that?" Lucas asked, noticing the hesitation at the end of my answer. "Well… so you know where we are? And that entire thing you just did earlier was a… 'memory gap'?"_

" _Y-yeah…" I cleared my throat, trying not to stutter. "I mean I don't remember your Magicant being in the clouds… or having a castle in the clouds." I pointed at a castle in the distant, which kind of reminded me of that broken down Osohe Castle. "So I assumed I have a memory gap when you brought me back. Must be because of your and Claus's birthday tomorrow, so this is your way of talking to him before the big day." Yeah, that sounds like a plausible excuse._

 _Lucas pouted. Again I had that same of feeling of just wanting to tell Lucas, Hey, it's me! But I had to refrain myself, no matter how much I wanted to say something. "Maybe… that's what happened again…" Lucas said sadly, not liking to be met with this kind of disappointment every time I appeared here. "Maybe I should ask the Magypsies about why you keep showing up then…"_

" _Err…" I gulped… they probably would tell him it's never happened before. "Right… they uh… might know something… maybe…" I better find a way to change the subject. "S-so Lucas, why is your Magicant different this time? Why are we in the clouds now with a castle?"_

" _Oh, you want to know why we're here?" Lucas asked, looking around at the surroundings too. "I… really don't know. Even though it's my Magicant, it's still random, kinda like a dream. We could be anywhere if it relates to me."_

" _Interesting." I said, looking around._

" _It might also be because my PSI is maturing now that I'm 13." Lucas suddenly said, bringing my attention back to him._

" _Wait… PSI matures?" I blinked, confused at this. I didn't know PSI_ could _mature along with the person._

" _I thought you'd know that since I made you." Lucas said to me, frowning a bit. "Kumatora told me my PSI might mature once I get older. How can you not know this?"_

" _... Uhhh…" I had to think of an excuse, quick. "The memory gaps…?" Why did I make that sound like a question AGAIN!? "Look, why do you want the real Claus to be here so much anyways? I mean… this is_ your _Magicant, this is basically YOUR world. Everything that defines you is here… having the real Claus here… wouldn't that just make him an intruder?" Because I always feel like one whenever I wake up here._

" _I don't think so, I actually think it's kind of… exciting." Lucas responded. "And it's not him being here that I'm the most excited about. It's knowing that he has the potential to use PSI in the first place. If he could use PSI too… maybe we'd be able to spend a lot more time together!"_

 _And that's exactly why I can't let him know it's really me. I can't let anyone- not even my twin brother Lucas to know I have potential to use PSI, let alone that I can actually use it. "Heh… I'm sorry I'm always such a disappointment to you then, Lucas. You'd rather have your real brother here than some figment of your imagination talking to you. I'm sure Claus would rather be himself here than pretend to be someone else. Sometimes a person's duties hold them back from what their hearts truly want. It hurts them, but they know they have to do it anyways." Wait, why did I say that? Oh no… it's happening again. I can't stop myself from saying these things!_

 _Lucas looked at me strangely, as if he didn't really understand what I just said. "Why… would you say that? You're right, if you're part of my mind, but… I don't know why_ you _should be hurt about that."_

" _I… I don't know why I said that." I admitted truthfully. "Lately it seems I've been spouting out more nonsense, huh?" It makes me wonder if something in Magicant is making me say how I really feel? If that's the case then hiding my secret from Lucas here is going to be quite the challenge._

" _... The Magypsies always told me that the mind is unpredictable, like a dream, and the things in Magicant might be things you never thought you knew about yourself. But still…" Lucas shook his head. "You're weird, for someone in my mind. It makes me think that it could really still be…"_

" _You really would like for me- your brother Claus- to have PSI, wouldn't you? Why though? Wouldn't it make you feel more special to be the only one to have PSI? I mean Claus has always been the physical one out of the two of you, so why not you have something he doesn't?" I asked him as we sat down at another bench. I looked down at my two organic hands… I think both of my eyes are green again too while we're here._

" _Then that's not fair." Lucas simply said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I want BOTH of us to have PSI. Just me having this power, awesome as it is, like Claus would say… I feel lonely and sad that only_ I _have PSI. It would be a lot more fun if Claus had it too, and I bet we would be able to hang out a lot more…"_

" _I doubt that. Even if Claus had PSI he'd still be busy working in the army." I told him. "After all… he'd be more of a valuable asset to the army if he had PSI. And apparently I'm not making the most use out of it if I ended up losing an arm and an eye. I mean you have healing PSI... I don't… that really makes it tough to survive in a battlefield."_

" _... What do you mean by that? You sound like you already_ have _PSI…" Lucas said, staring at me._

 _Oh no, I was letting too much information slip. I didn't even notice that I started talking about my own PSI until Lucas pointed it out! "Oh I was… just talking… um… talking about what the Commander is thinking about. I mean you must be worried about him too, right? You hadn't seen him since that renegade group attacked."_

 _Lucas frowned. "I wasn't even talking about the Commander… But I_ guess _I'm interested in how he's doing… Can we get back to Claus? For a figment of my imagination… you're either 'spouting nonsense'... or you actually know a lot about Claus."_

" _Of course I do. I mean I came from you after all! You've known Claus since you were born. Maybe you haven't been paying attention to your subconsciousness." I quickly said. I couldn't help but wonder if it's possible to use PSI while in this Magicant world…_

" _I… guess so. I still really need to ask the Magypsies about this…" Lucas sighed. "I've been wanting so much to think that it's you, but… so many things keep pointing to that you really are just a part of my mind. Still, you do act a little weird."_

 _I looked at my right organic hand curiously before looking over at Lucas. "You know… If Claus WAS here, he'd be curious about how well you could use your own PSI." My hand sparked as a small and mini PK Love developed around my hand. It felt so much easier to control it in this place._

 _Lucas looked at me in shock. "H-hey, you're using PSI!"_

 _I just smiled back. "Well, can't anything happen in your Magicant? I mean, you_ did _say it was like a dream."_

" _Y-yeah… b-but…" Lucas sighed before speaking up. "Still, I've NEVER seen anyone else in here using PSI!"_

" _Why don't you show me a few tricks then? Pretend I am the real Claus, maybe you can teach me a few things." I suggested, smiling at him. I didn't even know why I'm suggesting this… but it felt right._

 _Lucas looked a little surprised at this. "R-really? I've… always wanted to do this with Claus in the real world…" Lucas put one hand palm-up, a few sparks flickering out of his hand._

" _Since you don't use a lot of offensive PSI I would assume you'd have to make the most use of your PK Love when you need to use something offensive. PK Love can drain a lot of your mental energy, so I take it you're able to use it in smaller portions when needed?" I asked him._

" _Yeah, but controlling PK Love requires the user to be a lot more in-tuned with their inner selves and their PSI. So controlling it is tough for someone like the Commander if he's not trained in such a way." Lucas said to me._

" _Huh… I see…" I never thought about it that way. I've always just been using PK Love as my most powerful PSI attack even though it's only in the alpha stage. "It's too bad he doesn't have anyone to teach him those things then."_

" _You think so too?" Lucas asked cocking his head. "That's what I thought! He could use his PSI a lot more efficiently if… maybe_ I _taught him. He… almost kinda reminds me of Claus in a way now that I think about it…"_

 _I gave a nervous gulp at that and tugged on my shirt… is it getting hot in here or is it just me? "R-really? H-how so? I-I mean you b-barely even spoke to the guy… h-he's not much of a talker."_

 _Lucas shook his head. "I guess so… but there's something about him that reminds me of him, even if he doesn't talk a lot. It's just that feeling you get about somebody, it reminds me of Claus…" Lucas used some of his PSI to form a shield around himself. I wondered why some PSI users were mainly supportive while some, like me, used offensive PSI more. Is it a mentality kind of thing or is it based off of personality? I really wish Fassad taught me more about PSI… the only thing I_ do _know about it is how to use them for battle._

" _I wish you could teach me too Lucas. Maybe then I wouldn't always keep questioning about PSI. I have no knowledge on PSI itself, just how to use them in a tactful fight. It'd be nice to have other uses for them as well… or even use them to heal instead of just fighting." I said with a tired sigh and closed my eyes as I leaned back on the bench. PK Fire, PK Thunder, PK Freeze, PK Offense Down, PK Defense Down and PK Love… all of them are used for battle purposes… but I wish I could use things like shields and Lifeup too… they would've kept me from losing my body parts and I could've used it to help my allies more._

" _You're speaking weirdly again." Lucas pointed out before continuing. "But… it would be nice if Claus could use any PSI at all… You think he'd be more of an offensive PSI user? You make it sound like he already knows PSI and he mainly uses it for offense." Lucas commented, tilting his head in curiousity._

 _I gave a chuckle there before looking at him. I could already feel the warm sun in my face, and I knew this indicated we would wake up soon. "Who knows? Maybe he already does." My hands sparked a bit. "Maybe he already does." I repeated as Lucas's hands sparked too. Both of our PK Love hands intertwined with each other. I can feel it… I can feel everything Lucas is feeling… and I could feel his body heat on me… it was a nice feeling._

 _Lucas looked as if he had realized something, but was unsure of what to make of it. He stared at me with his eyes wide open. "You… Claus… you…!"_

 _I don't know why, but I felt at peace about this even though I should be freaking out. I only closed my eyes and leaned my head against his shoulder, feeling as if a huge weight was taken off my chest. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I would have to do serious damage control once we wake up, but for now I wanted to enjoy this relaxing and happy moment with my brother… in Magicant together._

" _C-Claus… You're here… you're really_ here _." I heard Lucas say softly to himself as his arms slowly wrapped around me. I didn't respond verbally, instead I wrapped my own arms around him too. I just wanted to spend these last few moments embracing my brother as the sun of Magicant slowly warmed and comforted the two of us…_

* * *

" _Aww, isn't that cute?"_ Claus heard barking and something close to his face. _"You two are hugging each other in your sleep. If I could use a camera I so would right now!"_

The ginger haired boy ignored the barking and just held onto his pillow a little more tightly. It was just such a soft and cuddly pillow, nice and warm too, he didn't want to let go of it right now. Strangely enough, he could've sworn the pillow was hugging him back just as tightly too.

"Claus…" he heard his pillow say. Weird, it sounded like Lucas to him… _Wait a second…_ Claus opened his eyes, seeing how tightly he was hugging Lucas who was hugging him tightly in return.

Claus's face turned as red as the hair on his head, and both his green and red irises shrunk when he realized in horror what he had done in Magicant. _Why do I have such a big mouth in Magicant!?_ "U-uh… G-g-good morning… L-Lucas… uh… should we let go of each other now?"

Lucas seemed to grumble a little bit as he slowly opened his eyes, looking at Claus. "D… do we haaave to? I-I liked our last moments in Magicant…" He closed his eyes again.

"M-Magicant? What is that, some kind of new candy?" Claus said, trying his best to make it sound like he knew nothing about it. "U-uh… we should get up now… Dad's probably waiting for us."

" _No, you two should stay like this a little longer. It's too cute!"_ Claus heard Boney's barking say nearby and briefly wondered why the dog was in their room and not outside in his doghouse where he belonged.

Lucas just mumbled and stayed hugging Claus. "I agree with Boney… don't you agree with Boney?"

"Agree with him? All he's doing is barking." Claus grumbled. "I don't speak dog, but apparently you do. What did he even say?"

"You… didn't hear him?" Lucas said, his voice sounding a little disappointed.

"Hear him? Of course I can HEAR him, I think just about everyone in town could. He's barking pretty loudly." Claus said. "But uh… if you really want to stay this way a little longer… I-I guess we could…"

Lucas looked like he pouted a little, hearing Claus's answer that he couldn't understand Boney, but he didn't say anything about it and just continued to hug Claus. "We'll get up when Dad calls us…"

" _What's this weird metal thing on the floor? This belongs in the trash! Don't you know how dangerous these objects are? I'll throw it away since you two are too cozy."_ Claus heard Boney laugh.

 _Metal thing? … Could that be the bracelet? It must've snapped off my wrist when I was sleeping. That would explain how I ended up in Lucas's Magicant again, but why did it break off?_ Claus wondered to himself.

"You know Claus… it was good to see you in my Magicant." Lucas suddenly spoke up.

"... Why do you keep mentioning this 'Magicant'? Is that a new PSI or something?" Claus asked nervously.

"Claus… a-are you… lying? Because you keep saying weird things whenever I ask you about it, both here and in Magicant." Lucas said. He hadn't opened his eyes yet, but he was still hugging Claus tightly. "And I felt it… when our hands touched with PK Love… I felt everything about you. All your feelings, there was no way that was just my own imagination, Claus."

Claus sighed, that PK Love intertwine pretty much sealed the deal. Claus quickly tried to think of something else. "Okay, so what if I _was_ in this Magicant of yours? I still say _you_ brought me in there with your own PSI. And I only happen to be there during times you want me to be there the most, so that's a logical reason." He knew he couldn't deny being in Lucas's Magicant anymore, but he could still keep his own PSI a secret. _Why are my secrets being slowly torn apart by my own brother?_

"... M-maybe I brought you in by accident… But some of the things you were saying… It sounded like you really knew how PSI worked! And at the end of our visit to Magicant this night, you used PK Love…" Lucas said. He sounded so desperate to know want that Claus had the possibility of using PSI, and hugged him tighter.

Claus knew his brother wanted to believe he could use PSI, and at this point he really wanted to tell him. Claus bit his lip, almost actually telling Lucas he could use PSI, but then he remembered his promise to Porky and Fassad… they're counting on him, all of the army, to keep his abilities and identity a secret no matter what. It was already dangerous that Lucas knew he was in Magicant, he couldn't afford him knowing he could use PSI too, even if it hurts him. "I can't use PSI… I… I only wished I could… and I could use PK Love because I've seen you used it and Magicant was more of a dream to me, so that's the only reason why I could use it. I can't use a full on PK Love, just that tiny portion in the dream."

Lucas's eyes finally opened, and he smiled at Claus. "You _were_ in Magicant that entire time! I knew it! Then… why did you keep lying to me and saying that you weren't?"

Claus's red and green eyes blinked and widen, surprised by that reaction, he hadn't expected Lucas to suddenly shout in excitement as if just making a discovery! Unless… _Wait, was he STILL unsure that was actually ME? I JUST CONFIRMED IT! I AM AN_ IDIOT _!_ "I… I didn't… I felt like I was an intruder… I didn't want you to know I intruded into your mind… something created with your own PSI… mind… heart... and soul… it just didn't feel right!" That was half the truth, he really did feel like an intruder in his brother's heart and soul whenever he was in Magicant.

"I-I wouldn't have minded much, really…" Lucas said, a little sadly. "I even said that I would've liked it if you were with me… Did you really feel like you were intruding that much?"

Claus paused for a minute there, before he said, "I-"

The door opened suddenly and Flint was standing over them, looking rather amused. "Morning boys… the omelettes are done."

Claus could've sworn he heard Boney laughing nearby before blushing when he realized their dad just caught him and Lucas hugging together in bed.


	19. Chapter 19: The 13th Birthday

**DarkFoxKit: *is looking through a book and smiling***

 **Donfyre: *peeks over from behind Fox* What's thaaaaat?**

 **DarkFoxKit: H-hey! Why do you have to sneak up on me like that!? *throws papers all over the place, and you noticed there were comics in there… of Undertale.***

 **Donfyre: *watches the papers fly all over the place, smiling at Fox* Woooow, when I showed you that game I didn't know it would influence you this much! :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: *quickly gathers up all the pictures* H-hey! It didn't influence me! DX I was just wondering what kind of fan stuff they have! … Erm… *jumps on top of Fyre and sits on his back* You're not allowed to get up after embarrassing me in front of the readers!**

 **Donfyre: Wah! *squirms beneath her* Not faaair, you're taking advantage of the fact that I'm just a Wooper! DX And you've done that to me in front of the camera plenty!**

 **DarkFoxKit: :3 *strokes Fyre's back* Okay little Wooper, time to get on the reviews while you're nice and comfy on the floor.**

 **Doodles234: Yeah, waiting can be such a draaaaag, but well, good things come to those who wait. And good to know you're looking forward to when Lucas finds out about Claus. Well, Claus knows there's a reason why he couldn't just outright tell Lucas even though he wants to, after all, the commander having PSI is supposed to be top secret to anyone, and it's dangerous to let people know Claus has PSI, even if it's his own brother.**

 **Donfyre: *is trying to keep his head up* It's dangerous to be Claus. XP And those brothers are pretty close. It would be sad if they broke apart, like the game… ;~;**

 **FanofFiction123: Fox here is evil like that with her cliffhangers, so blame her. c: But yeah, isn't it greeeaat that Magicant is making Claus admit those juicy secrets? :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: *pushes Fyre's head down and starts playing with his tail* Heh… well I'm a pretty lazy person, so… ^^' And it seems someone wants our little Wooper in a bubble. :3**

 **Shimo no ko: Heh, hope you're having fun with this story then, once it gets its claws sunk into you, you can't get out~ :3 And Claus just has trouble keeping secrets in Magicant. ^^' And sorry, but the birthday chapter is here, so hope you like it! But… well, uh… I'll let you judge how well their birthday goes. Heh, Claus is pretty funny when he wants to be. X3 And of course they're giving each other badges, they are still twins after all.**

 **Donfyre: *glares at Fox before looking at the camera again* Some siblings have special connections with each other, like these two! Aaaaand you're another one who advocates brother fluff. ^^; Well, to each his own! I guess. XP**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: W-WHAT!? O_O I'm sooorry that happened to you! DX *nuzzles the review***

 **DarkFoxKit: I'm glad you like the sibling times, but I'm really sorry for your loss…**

 **Flun: Yeah, already in part 3, but that doesn't mean we're close to the end yet, there's still so much more to come. ;3 And… this isn't filler content… the only 'filler' stuff I can say we did are the battle scenes, since we could easily just skim over all that, but we wanted to treat you guys with more of anime style than just say they beat them up. I mean the whole zombie thing was to show Claus's use of his robotic eye, and Magicant was where he ended up confessing to Lucas that really was him there, which are all big impacts in the story.**

 **Claus… heh… wasn't trying to be a rebel, in fact he's been trained to be quite loyal despite his age. In the beginning of this story, Claus mentions that he fabricated his troublemaking nature so people wouldn't just see him as Lucas's twin, so he's a bit more like Lucas than you'd think- at least in this story he is. He skipped out on the inspection because he was genuinely terrified of Lil' Miss Marshmallow, and Dr. Andonuts was going to bring her in, quite frankly I doubt anyone would've wanted to stick around for that.**

 **Yeah, I thought it was fitting that Claus is the one who gives Lucas the Franklin Badge, and it's obvious that's going to come back and bite him in the butt in the future. ^^' And yeah, Flint still has the old Franklin Badge, but I like the idea that Claus creates one for the purpose of protecting his brother. And of course, as brilliant as Dr. Andonuts is, even he can't get the badge to work the way it should. Guess it's something only Mr. Saturn can do.**

 **Well I don't know if Lil' Miss Marshmallow is or isn't Dr. Andonuts first robot, but it would explain a few things about the glitches and stuff. Maybe he designed her to be a killer robot originally and that's where the drill came from? *picks up Fyre's head* Okay, your time to talk! *starts playing with his antennas***

 **Donfyre: Wah! *grits my teeth* Fooooox, my neck is hurting! DX Anyways… nice fan theory you have there! It's a pretty interesting way of looking at the zombies as something the Pigmasks created themselves… Though I personally still think that the zombies are still just, well… zombies. ^^; Though it'd be creeeepy if a zombie Hinawa just started coming out. But yeah, Claus did a pretty good job with defending him and Fuel, didn't he? c:**

 **All this love for sibling fluff… *sweatdrops* Hey, about that bracelet, he's still a developing boy. And like Dr. Andonuts said, that PSI's getting stronger by a hot minute. :P And glad to see that you saw the scene as cute even with Claus's fatal slip-up! And that's alright, Boney's already kind of evil as he is. Like a certain fox.**

 **Well, you always write some pretty long reviews anyways. ^^; But cool to see we did this non-filler chapter right!**

 **DarkFoxKit: *Sits over his head again and smiles* Alrighty, time for our last but not least reviewer!**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan: Uh… we're in Eastern Standard time. Heh… I guess I should've realized that the day could be different depending on the time zone. Probably should've mentioned which one we're using. ^^'**

 **Yeah, Claus wanted to give Lucas something special and something to protect him with, so the Franklin Badge seemed to be the perfect thing, considering it was a large ball of electricity that almost killed Lucas. And yeah, Claus couldn't get it to deflect electricity, so he decided to name it after the courage his brother showed him. And yes, Saturn Valley is indeed in this story. ;3**

 **Yup, Claus's tune up would help him preserve 'PP' and shoot faster, though it would be great if this story was an actual game. ^^' Ah, it's usually a good idea to review after you've read it while the memories are at their freshest, but I guess you have your reasons.**

 **Heh, yeah, same here. The ending in Magicant was absolutely ADORABLE! X3 And yeah, Lucas is getting pretty suspicious of his brother, looks like Claus's bracelet picked a bad time to break.**

 **Yeah, the zombie scene was a great way for us to use Claus's more sarcastic part of his personality, something he couldn't use much as the commander since he's supposed to be a disciplined soldier.**

 **Heh, I like that Boney's getting more love, considering his role in part 1 he didn't seem to have much of a personality yet. It was only in part 2 he started developing something interesting, and I'm glad to see it's gotten him pretty popular since Boney's usually left out in most Mother 3 fanfics. And yeah, Boney cares deeply for his family, dogs are loyal like that, while cats… they're more… finicky.**

 **Heh, seems everyone's excited for their birthday chapter. Admittedly it is the big stepping stone in the story since it marks the three year time to finally pass from in the canon. *is now nuzzling Fyre and curls up on top of him.***

 **Donfyre: ….. *sloooowly slides Fox off of me in a way that she wouldn't notice at first* :3 I'll do the rest! Anyways, yeah, everybody was really excited for the chapter, and now you got to see just what went down!**

 **Yeah, it is mostly just the fact of responding to the reviews that causes these long AN's. ^^;**

 **Carrot sunflower still fits! So that's gooood that that's his official nickname to you now. c:**

 **Hopefully we do get around to achieving that milestone. It'd be a nice feat. :P**

 **I liked the way they portrayed him in Brawl. Then again, I guess that's just me, I've always liked the shy characters in video games. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: *pounces on Fyre again* Hey! Don't move me until I say so! *pouts* Also, I kinda liked how Lucas was portrayed in Brawl too. At the time, I had no knowledge of the Mother series, not even EarthBound, but I was familiar with Ness. So seeing how Lucas was so shy and timid in contrast to Ness's bravery was rather intriguing to me, and I liked how Lucas grew in the game when he fought with Wario and tried to protect Pokemon Trainer while they were falling. That is how I got to know Lucas way before I played Mother 3.**

 **Donfyre: *is grumbling under Fox* Eeeevil! A-anyways, now that you got that out of your system…**

 **Fiiiiiine, watch the anime at your own risk!**

 **Phew, another one of your long reviews finished. We look forward to seeing what you have to say about this chapter! c: And nice word usage there. XD**

 **DarkFoxKit: *nuzzles Fyre* Well, now that that's over with… it's bedtime for us! *grabs Fyre and jumps into a bed, holding him like a stuffed animal***

 **Donfyre: E-excuse me! DX I'm not a toy you can just always keep cuddling with!**

 **DarkFoxKit: …. Oooooh Gooooooodraaaaaaa!**

 **Donfyre: o_O WAH! No! I-I didn't mean that! *suddenly doesn't want to leave Fox's hold***

 **DarkFoxKit: That's a good little Wooper~ *snuggles with him* Well dear readers, I am DarkFoxKit, this is Donfyre, and we look forward to hearing from you!**

* * *

 **Chapter 19: The 13th Birthday**

"It was only a dream, Dad. Nothing more." Claus hissed at Flint, who had been giving them an amused look all morning, which irritated the boy.

Flint seemed to be thinking back to the image he had seen just a few minutes prior. "Oh, and it happened that _both_ of you had this dream that you ended up hugging each other in the morning?"

Lucas was getting the omelettes on the plates while Claus was having this conversation with Flint. "Yes! Why is that so hard to believe? We're twins, it's not _that_ unheard of! And I was only doing it to comfort Lucas, okay!?"

Lucas didn't know which was redder; Claus's hair or his face right now, he was trying really hard to hold back a chuckle.

Flint seemed to notice Lucas's reaction, and he kept a bemused expression. "Alright, if you _say_ so. But I think I'm fortunate that I caught you two doing that, the last time you two hugged each other in bed, you were both still so little!"

"I think it was nice too." Lucas said as he sat down at the table. "The omelettes smells delicious Dad!"

"Well… tenth time's the charm, right?" Flint said with a sheepish expression on his face.

"Tenth? You've been trying to cook omelettes _that_ many times?" Claus deadpanned.

"I wanted to give you boys a nice birthday present. You both haven't eaten omelettes in a long time and it used to be your favorites!" Flint said.

"Well thanks Dad, we really appreciate it!" Lucas smiled as he began digging into the omelettes. Claus couldn't help but think to the past as he ate his own omelettes. Still omelettes, of course, but… they were different at the same time.

 _Yeah… we really haven't eaten these in a while._ Claus thought to himself, taking a few bites out of the omelette. _Wow… these are really good. M-maybe not the same as Mom's... but they're still delicious!_

The two boys heartily continued to eat their breakfasts, and Flint had a look of satisfaction seeing that his two sons seemed to greatly enjoy the meal he worked so hard in preparing.

When the two boys finished their omelettes, they both gave a big smile. Lucas was giving Flint a huge grin. "Thanks Dad! That was the most delicious breakfast I've had in a long time!"

"Yeah. I've really missed eating omelettes." Claus smiled but tried to seem less excited than his brother, he was still a bit embarrassed of the hugging incident this morning.

Boney was eating dog food below them. _"Figures, you boys get delicious smelling omelettes and I'm stuck with dry kibble."_

"Well now that breakfast is done we should probably wash the dishes." Lucas spoke up after they finished eating.

"Allow me, please. It's your birthday, you should enjoy it." Flint insisted. "Don't you two have something to give to each other?"

Lucas perked up, hearing his dad's suggestion. "Oh yeah! Presents! Wait here Claus, I reeeaally want to show you what I got!"

Before Claus had any time to react, Lucas bolted out of the kitchen, probably to grab the present he had prepared. Claus was a little excited in knowing what he could have made, but he was more focused on the present that he himself had for Lucas. He already had the object for Lucas stashed with him, wrapped up in a little birthday box, if a little crudely.

Before too long, Lucas came running back with a small box-like gift. He was smiling as he handed it to the ginger head. "I figured you might like it… I've worked on it for a few months so I hope it's good."

Claus took the present box and smiled at his brother. "If it was made by you then it'll be good no matter what it is." The slightly older 13 year old began tearing off the wrapping paper to see a small box. Opening the box he saw a small wooden item, its shape was an oval, but what he saw on it warmed his heart; it was a small but seeable picture of his family. Flint, Boney, Lucas, himself, even his mother was in the background, hugging the twins.

"I call it the Memory Badge. It took me a while to find a way to get the family photo that small. But I wanted to give you something that you can take with you, even to your job so you'll always have a little piece of us with you. You'll always remember where you came from." Lucas explained.

"Lucas… this is beautiful. I will treasure this gift you've worked so hard for me forever." Claus said with a warm smile on his face as he hugged Lucas without thinking. "Thank you."

Lucas had a small smile on his face and a slight blush knowing that Claus enjoyed the gift greatly. Flint himself was smiling warmly at the scene, and Boney seemed to bark something along the lines of _"Aww, how cute!"_ Claus eventually let go and took out his own present, crudely wrapped in a small, white gift box with a red ribbon. For some reason, he saw those presents everywhere, so it was pretty easy to come up with a design for this birthday box. But now he felt bad for not completing the Courage Badge to how it should've been.

"Here Lucas." Claus said a little timidly, handing the box to Lucas, who took it in his hands. "It's… the best I could try to do. I'd hoped it would come out better, but… well, you can just see it for yourself."

Lucas took the gift and gave a warm smile to Claus. "Did you make this?"

"W-well… let's just say I did the best I could with it." Claus said with an embarrassed frown.

The slightly younger 13 year old carefully unwrapped the wrapping paper and opened the box. Inside it was a shiny, silvery badge with a lightning bolt symbol. Claus spoke up as he explained, "I used some materials in the base to try and make this. I'm afraid this is the best I can do as its full functions is beyond even the greatest scientist in the base… but I call it the Courage Badge, since you have a lot of courage, Lucas… and maybe it could give you some of mine if you ever need it."

Lucas examined it for a moment, looking at the badge in wonder. His eyes seemed disbelieving. "You… really believe I have courage, Claus? And that this cool-looking badge… belongs with me?"

Claus smiled a little. "Of course, Lucas. Everyone sees how kind and helpful you are to others. I wanted this badge to help protect you too… but now I think it can show just how courageous and kind you are."

"Oh? What was this badge supposed to do?" Lucas asked curiously.

"Well… after seeing what happened during that battle for Tazmily… I wanted something to help protect you from electricity. So I was trying to make a badge where it reflects the electricity, no matter the voltage, away from you and back at the user. Unfortunately I was unable to figure out how to get that part to work." Claus sighed. "It can still absorb electricity, but it can't deflect it. I know it's incomplete, and after receiving your thoughtful gift I feel bad that I wasn't able to finish it for you."

Lucas, for a moment, didn't show anything. Then his face lit up in a bright smile, before pouncing Claus in a hug. "I think it's great, Claus! I didn't know that you saw that about me, and I'm really glad that you care that much to protect me. Thank you!"

Claus was caught a bit off guard, not knowing that Lucas would find his present so amazing. Still he smiled warmly and returned the hug. "You're welcome, Lucas."

" _Hey! Don't forget about my gift!"_ Boney barked as he brought in two huge bones, they were so massive that Lucas and Claus wondered if Boney dug up bones of a Drago somewhere and stored it.

"Uh Boney…" Claus began to say, not sure if he should say anything to the dog.

"Thank you Boney, the gifts are lovely." Lucas chuckled as he pet the dog and gave him a warm hug. Boney licked Lucas's face and wagged his tail.

" _I knew you'd love it. These were the biggest bones I've found, so I hope you two enjoy it!"_ Boney barked happily.

Claus could only sigh at this before he pet the dog too. "When you go big, Boney, you certainly go big."

Flint gave a chuckle before he said, "Now go on and enjoy the day boys. Today's the first day of your teenage hood."

"Thanks Dad!" Lucas thanked before hugging him.

Claus chuckled at his brother's sweet nature before he said, "Come on Lucas, let's go see what we can do for the day."

Lucas had an excited and exhilarated smile on his face. "Yay! We can finally do something together now!"

* * *

 _Lucas and I played together as we went around Tazmily. Fuel even had the bakery throw us a small party and baked us a nice birthday cake that he paid for himself. Lucas felt bad he did that, but Fuel insisted since we both saved his life before and it was the least he could do. After that we spent the day in the woods, playing with animals and some of the more friendly chimeras. Before I knew it, it was already evening and we were laying out on the beach, watching the ocean waves lazily._

"This is nice." Lucas spoke beside me. "The clouds look nice, and they look kinda like your hair in the sunset, Claus."

"Hey, my hair isn't _that_ orange." Claus puffed, but was chuckling nonetheless.

"... Those clouds… they kind of reminded me when we were up there… talking." Lucas said slowly.

Claus blinked before he figured out where Lucas was going with this. "... You mean… when we were in your Magicant?"

"Yeah…" Lucas frowned a little to himself, remembering the event that had happened this morning and how Claus had basically just admitted how he'd been in Magicant this entire time. "So… I-I wanna make sure that it really _was_ you in Magicant, right?"

"Lucas, by this point I think you know the answer. I wouldn't even know what 'Magicant' was if I hadn't been there already." Claus sighed. "Did you want to talk about it?"

"W-well… you never did tell me why you felt like an intruder so much." Lucas said worriedly. "I was just thinking about it and I wanted to know why you kept lying and say you weren't there."

Claus had hoped Lucas forgot about that when Flint came into their room, but apparently not. "Because Lucas… it's _your_ world. As I've said before it was a world made by your own mind, heart and soul… to have an outsider like me in there is just wrong." It was half the truth, but Claus could never tell Lucas the entire truth, no matter how much he wanted to.

"But… I also said that I wouldn't mind you being in my Magicant. And it would even be exciting if I knew it was really you too!" Lucas said, racking his head to come up with a reason to justify his own belief.

"I know you don't mind, Lucas. But the thing is… _I_ mind. I may not have meant to go in there, but whenever I do I just feel like I'm intruding. Didn't you say before that only PSI users could enter Magicant?" Claus asked him. "So why was I in there?"

"I-I don't know… maybe you might have potential for PSI and you just don't know it? You couldn't have just been there coincidentally." Lucas said to him.

"I've never even…" Claus paused, he knew he had to start lying now and he hated himself for it. "... had the PSI fever… so… I couldn't possibly have the potential for it. And we're twins… don't you think I would've awakened mine shortly after you did with yours?"

Lucas noticed the pause and said, "Claus… is there something you're not telling me?"

Claus sighed before looking out at the sea. "Lucas… have you ever wondered what's on the other side of the ocean? Do you think there's a whole new world out there, waiting to be discovered?"

Lucas was taken aback a little by the question. He wasn't sure where he suddenly came up with the question, but it was a tactic of questioning he was familiar with. After all, he thought he remembered Claus doing something like this to him with something else… He answered the question. "Another place out there? I didn't think there could be much else besides maybe the few smaller islands I see scattered around the Nowhere Islands… I always thought our home was big enough already…"

"That's what I used to think too." Claus said as he remembered going out into one of the continents for the first time in his life. "But I think there is a new world out there, far bigger than our island. Maybe it's not as full of life as it is here, but maybe someday that would change."

Lucas frowned. "You think we would be able to go out there? I know the Pigmask Army have all these flying technology things, but… is it possible to go out that far?" Lucas started to look out over the ocean. The question of such a possibility, while sudden, started to make him think of the chances. "And if we did… what would it be like out there? Is it a lot better than here? Or what if it's a lot worse or we just find some… desolate wasteland?"

Claus paused for a minute there, making Lucas wonder what he's thinking about. "... I wouldn't know. Maybe it would be better than here, maybe it would just be a desolate wasteland. But I guess we'll never know until we could go there one day."

Then he stood up and stretched, mentally patting himself on the back for avoiding Lucas's question if he was hiding something from him. "Well that's enough wondering, is there anything else you want to do before we head on home? I'm going to be going back to work tomorrow you know… so we might as well spend as much time as we could together." _I didn't know why, but I had a very uneasy feeling that Lucas and I may split paths in more ways than one starting tomorrow… and I didn't know why I had that feeling, but it made me want to spend every second with him before this day is over._

The question snapped Lucas out of his thoughts as he stared at Claus. It seemed that Claus was right, and all traces of earlier suspicion that he was hiding something from Lucas was gone. Lucas perked up as he thought of something. "Oh yeah! We could walk around Tazmily some more, Dad said that some friends wanted to give us something. And then we could…"

* * *

 _Even though it was evening, Lucas and I hung out with our friends. Fuel had a lot of stuff to show us in the forest, mostly the chimeras he found… like that weird chicken head with the snake's body, which I believe Dr. Andonuts called the Slitherhen, it can apparently lay fresh eggs that hatch regular chicks… I don't know how that is biologically possible. We visited Angie and thanked her for the cake she and her parents made for us earlier that day. And we just had a nice stroll in Tazmily as the sun went down and it was time for us to go home._

" _Hey! Did you two have fun?"_ Boney yipped happily as he saw the two boys walking up to the front door.

"We certainly did, Boney!" Lucas smiled as he pet the dog playfully.

Claus silently wished he could talk to Boney too. "It must be nice being able to talk to Boney and other animals."

"Huh? Oh, yeah…" Lucas said, a little sadly. "I really wish you _did_ have PSI. I could translate for animals, but it would be a lot better if you could use PSI too! There's… still the chance you could use PSI, since you were able to go into my Magicant…"

"Oh come on Lucas, just let it die already. I can't use PSI, end of story." Claus told him, a little too tired for that argument again as he opened the door.

" _Hey Claus, did you know that your hair looks like the bright and orange sun?"_ Boney barked as if taunting the fact Claus couldn't understand him.

Claus stopped for a second and looked back at Boney before shaking his head and said, "Lucas, maybe you should feed him, his mouth could use some stuffing I'm sure."

Lucas blinked. "Um, okay, if you say so." he said, ruffling the dog's head before following Claus inside. Claus heard Boney whine at his comment and he had to stifle a snicker. "Wow Claus, that was some… timing. I mean it almost seemed like you were responding to what Boney said."

"Oh really? Guess I just have good timing then." Claus said a little nervously.

"There you two are." Flint spoke up. "Glad you're finally home, I almost thought you got lost or something."

"We just wanted to spend a lot of time together on our birthday, Dad. Nothing wrong with that." Claus said and tried not to think about when Flint caught them hugging that morning.

Flint seemed to smile a bit as he adjusted his hat. "Well, it's nice to see you two boys hanging out together for a change. You two have been so busy all the time, so it's good to see that you still care for each other so much."

"Yeah, we had a lot of fun Dad!" Lucas said cheerily as he came back inside after shoving a bowl of dog food in front of Boney… who didn't look like he wanted to eat it very much. "We went all over Tazmily and there were some people who gave us some things too."

"Yeah, but the best gift I ever gotten was from my brother." Claus smiled warmly.

"Ahem… TEN tries." Flint cleared his throat.

"And of course Dad's homemade omelettes!" Claus chuckled.

Lucas then gave a yawn and rubbed his eyes. "Wow… I didn't realize how tired I was from today… but I could use a good night sleep."

Claus looked over to Lucas before remembering his bracelet was broken and probably somewhere in the trash, he couldn't afford to go back to Lucas's Magicant now that the boy is aware he was there. "Right… we should sleep…" he also wished the day could've lasted longer.

"Then go and get into your pajamas then. Tomorrow's another day." Flint said as he tilted his hat. "But I wouldn't mind it if you two slept in and got comfortable with each other again."

"Daaaad! That was ONE TIME!" Claus snapped, his face as red as his hair.

Flint seemed to chuckle, and Claus thought he even saw Boney - who had snuck inside without bothering to eat his food - smiling too. "Alright, but again, nice to see you two boys getting along." Flint just said.

Claus couldn't keep the red tint out of his face, and he swore if he heard a sarcastic comment from Boney he would… The boy shook his head and said, "We're going to go change now!"

A little later that night, when Lucas and Claus got into their pajamas, Claus was sighing as he sat on the bed while Lucas was still brushing his hair. "You know Dad's going to hold that against us for a long time, right? And I could swear Boney's teasing us too!"

"Oh relax Claus, they just thought it was cute." Lucas chuckled. "I don't blame them… I mean the last time we hugged was before Mom died, so I kinda missed it myself."

"Yeah, but it's still embarrassing, especially at our age now." Claus grumbled as Lucas put down the brush and walked over to his bed.

"I don't think so... I think it's still nice…" Lucas paused before twiddling his fingers a bit. "But… would I see you in my Magicant again soon?"

Claus paused there before he sighed, "I don't know… I guess maybe it depends on you since you're the one who brings me there… _somehow_." He bit his lip, knowing he brings himself there whenever his PSI and Lucas's intertwine in their sleep together without his bracelet.

Lucas pouted a little, but at the same time he also seemed excited of the possibility of seeing Claus again in his Magicant, this time without playing guessing games of whether or not Claus was real. "Alright… but I hope I can see you there soon!"

Claus just put on a smile without trying to look nervous. "Yeah… hope so too." _I really need to find a way to NOT get back into Magicant… I don't want to accidentally spill the truth with me having PSI and everything… Fassad didn't tell me that Magicant has a way of prying the truth out of people too._

"Well then… I guess this is goodnight, Claus." Lucas said as he laid down, yawning. "I hope that… we see each other again soon."

"Uh… yeah, sure." Claus said as he laid down too, wondering why Lucas said that. It wasn't like it was the first time he had to go to work the next day, but Lucas made it sound like they may not see each other again for a while… maybe he was getting that uneasy feeling too.

* * *

It didn't take long for Lucas to fall asleep, but Claus wasn't too keen on joining his brother in dreamland. The fact that his bracelet wasn't there bothered him greatly, and he knew he wouldn't be able to keep his PSI from intertwining with Lucas in his sleep. _What am I going to do? I can't sleep like this. I'll end up in Lucas's Magicant again and I don't think I'll be able to keep my secret very long in there. Why did that bracelet have to break off on me?_ Claus looked at his bare organic arm before clenching his fist.

Sitting up from his bed, he gazed over at his peaceful sleeping brother. _I'm sorry Lucas… but I just can't afford to go back into your Magicant anymore._ The boy slowly climbed out of bed, hoping not to wake up his brother, and head out to the door.

Boney perked up when he heard the door open and Claus coming out. _"Claus? What are you doing out at this time of night? You should be asleep!"_

Claus put a finger over his mouth and shushed Boney. "Shhh! I'm just going for a little stroll, Boney. I can't sleep right now, okay?"

Boney perked his head at the boy. Claus wished he could just talk to the dog to make him understand his situation, but he couldn't just give his status away, even to his dog. _"You need to be walked? It's too late already! … But I can walk you if you want."_

The ginger haired boy quickly shook his head, "No Boney, I need to walk alone, okay? I'm just going for a small stroll. You stay here."

The hazelnut-colored dog whined a little, his tail drooping a little. _"Aww… okay, but be careful! I don't want my sleep interrupted because something happened to you."_

Claus hesitated there before he sighed and said, "Is that all you're worried about? Well don't be. I'll be perfectly fine, just make sure Lucas doesn't worry too much about me if I'm not back by morning, okay boy?"

Boney stopped and looked at the boy. _"... Did you just… answer me back?"_

Claus responded by scratching the dog behind the ears, just where he likes it. "I better go now, Boney. Tell Lucas and Dad I'll be back as soon as I can, okay? Oh and my hair isn't orange, it's ginger." With that, he stood up and ran off into the village before Boney could react. The dog just stared at the boy running off, not knowing what to think.

 _Okay, good, I actually got out of there alive…_ Claus thought to himself, sighing in relief. He made his way towards the Pigmask Army's base. _I really need another bracelet… and maybe ask Fassad some questions. I_ really _need to know why all these things have been happening all of a sudden._

Claus made his way to the graveyard, seeing zombies walking around. Sighing and seeing nobody else around- using his robotic eye to scan for any life forms other than the zombies to make sure, he turned his robotic arm into the cannon mode and opened the gates. "Zombie extermination." And with that, he powered up his PSI Cannon.

* * *

 _Those zombies were really fragile and easy target practice, maybe the grave digger just rebury them if they're trying to eat him. I headed down into the transportation tunnel where there was a Pork Bean waiting for me. It was easy to figure out how to drive it whenever the Colonel isn't available. I used it to head on back to the base. I hope Fassad doesn't mind me coming in so late at night._

When Claus made it to the base, he was rather surprised to see it was still full of Pigmasks moving around, he thought everyone would be asleep by now. Although many of them looked… a little out of it, if that was the right word. Claus head to the elevator, wondering if Fassad was in his room. Using his eye, he scanned for any PSI energy nearby, trying to find Fassad's. The eye lead him to his room.

"Wait… what?" He opened the door and saw the Magypsy there, working on some paper work. "Fassad?"

The man looked up, surprised to see Claus coming in. "Claus? What are you doing here at this time? Shouldn't you be asleep?"

Claus wasn't sure whether to be more concerned that he _was_ here in the first place at such a late hour, or that Fassad wanted to do his paperwork in here… for some reason. He decided to ask about the latter first. "Uh… why are you in my room?"

"Well since you had your day off today I got swamped with all your paperwork. Everyone keeps bringing it to _your_ room so I decided to just do it all here. It's less of a hassle than bringing it all to my room." Fassad explained. "And it seems there's some trouble going on at Thunder Tower that's stationed a bit further away. There's some kind of glitch that's causing it to fire bolts of lightning at random and they're worried it could hit the civilians living here in Tazmily. I was going to report this to Master Porky in the morning and see what his orders are."

"I see…" Claus frowned as he thought about his own house being struck by lightning, he couldn't stand the thought that he'd lose his house and his family. "Maybe I could check it out then."

"Claus, you're still off duty right now. And what are you doing here anyways? You should be back home sleeping." Fassad asked him in a stern tone.

"..." Claus showed him his bare wrist. "My bracelet snapped off the other night and now Lucas knows about me appearing in his Magicant. Any ideas why, Fassad?"

"Your bracelet snapped?!" Fassad repeated with genuine surprise. "Well… yes, I have a good reason why this happened, but you say your brother is now certain of your appearances in Magicant?"

Claus sighed at this and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, and that's another thing… I don't know if it's just me, but every time I go into Magicant I feel… different. It isn't so easy to keep lying about my identity. I'm lucky that I still managed to hide that I can use PSI, but now he knows that I'm able to go into Magicant… and it's making him a little suspicious." _Well… more hopeful than anything._ Claus added in his mind.

"Ah… I see." Fassad said, looking like he just had another stack of paperwork added onto his already large pile. "Well, I suppose I can give you a quick explanation now, unless you'd rather get a replacement from Dr. Andonuts and use the rest of the night to get some sleep?"

"With all due respect Fassad, I think I should know more about PSI than what you have taught me. Because of my lack of knowledge I've almost got caught again." Claus said seriously to him. "First off, why did the bracelet snap? Was it getting rusty?"

Fassad seemed surprised and maybe a little annoyed at Claus's sudden demand, but decided to answer anyways to let the boy get some rest. "No, that's not it. The bracelet we gave you isn't strong enough anymore to suppress the PSI that's been maturing in you. Using PSI is almost like growing up. At first, it's weak and takes time to master, but as you grow it gets more powerful and sometimes even hard to control, before finally getting a little weak again if you age long enough. That last part mostly just happens to humans though. Dr. Andonuts can make you a stronger bracelet if you ask him."

Claus frowned a little. "Why didn't you just give me a strong bracelet right off the bat? It would've been a lot easier so I wouldn't have to worry about something like _this_ happening."

Fassad shook his head. "Giving you a strong bracelet like that could have been dangerous too. We want to suppress your PSI so nobody would notice that you have it, not crush it to the point that it could damage your ability to use PSI."

"Oh… so you gave me that weaker bracelet to be safe, and when I got older you could have given me a stronger one?"

The older man nodded his head. "That's it. Now didn't you have another question? I want to make it quick so you can get some rest and I can finish up this paperwork."

"Oh, right!" Claus said, remembering his other concern. "It was about Magicant… I've been there three times now, and each time it's been harder to keep the truth from my brother… Any ideas, oh great PSI teacher?" That last part was supposed to be a little mocking, but Fassad didn't seem to pick up on it. In fact, he talked a little more prideful when he answered the question, as if he enjoyed the "compliment".

"Oh, I see. It's a… peculiar trait that's present in Magicant. It makes oneself very true to who they are." Fassad started off. "Magicant is a place that even we Magypsies don't fully understand, but we get the rules and the gist of it. I think I explained before, but Magicant is supposed to be a representation of one's mind, only projectable because the user is able to use PSI, and others who can use PSI can visit it also. I remember Dr. Andonuts making some weird analogy when I explained it to him too… something about Magicant being like a computer that only a single person can use, and others who are trusted or are able to use computers can use that too… I don't really know, all that techy stuff is his thing."

Claus thought about that analogy. He sort of understood what a computer was… he thinks. It made sense, and he remembered hearing this explanation a little before, what Magicant was and why it existed.

"I just know that Magicant was created by the PSI user's mind, heart and soul. It represents their very true beings. Like with Lucas and the gentle sunflowers, the sunflowers represent Mom to him." Claus said. "Does it change too? The last time I went there, there were clouds instead of the ground."

"Well it is possible for one's Magicant to change if the person in question changed." Fassad explained. "However Lucas doesn't seem much different to how he is now than he was back then, so maybe it was influenced by you."

"Me?" Claus blinked, pointing at himself. "But I don't know how to make my own Magicant. I've only used my PSI for combat purposes."

"True, but since you've been in your brother's three times now, especially since your PSI is maturing, perhaps you're subconsciously using Lucas's Magicant to create your own." Fassad said. "I don't know all the details or how it works with twins necessarily, but these are just theories."

Claus sighed as he rubbed his forehead. "This PSI stuff is a lot more complicated than I thought."

"It certainly is. It's always unpredictable, even to us Magypsies." Fassad shrugged. "Well, is that all you wanted to know?"

"Yes… that and I need a new bracelet." Claus nodded.

"Right, of course. That's the most important thing right now." Fassad said, mindlessly nodding his head. He seemed tired, Claus thought. "You can get another bracelet from Dr. Andonuts, this time likely to be stronger than your other bracelet. And get some rest after, I don't want you coming in all drowsy because of a bad night."

"Right… but what about you, Fassad? You look pretty tired yourself." Claus asked in concern of his mentor.

"I'll be fine. We Magypsies don't necessarily need sleep like you humans do." Fassad said. "Although one of us _only_ sleeps all day and night."

"Wow, I wonder if Lucas knows that one." Claus chuckled. "Alright, if you say so. I'll go see if Dr. Andonuts is awake and can give me the new bracelet and head on home."

* * *

Before Claus could leave the room, however, the alarms suddenly started blaring off, causing the two Commanders to jump in shock and ready for action.

"DANGER! DANGER! THUNDER TOWER IS SHOOTING LIGHTNING! DANGER! DANGER! THUNDER TOWER IS BEING INVADED! REQUEST IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE! DA- KRRZZZZT!"

"What was that?" Claus demanded.

"Someone from Thunder Tower was sending a distress signal." Fassad quickly stood up. "They need help!"

"Then this is no time to be sleeping! I better go there and check it out!" Claus said as he grabbed his Commander's uniform and pulling it over his clothes.

"While you are the Commander, you are also still a child. You need your rest, Claus." The Magypsy reprimanded him.

"I can get a good night's rest with the Instant Revitalizing Chamber, but this is an emergency Fassad! What if the intruder shoots lightning at my home? I'm not going to stand for it." The young 13 year old said as he put on his helmet. _Especially since I never finished Lucas's Courage Badge, so he's vulnerable._

"But what about your family? Wouldn't they wonder where you are if you just disappeared in the morning?" Fassad asked him.

"Maybe, but this is important. I'm sure they'll understand." Claus said as his robotic arm connected to his winged jetpack that attached itself behind him. "Now show me where Thunder Tower is."


	20. Chapter 20: Trouble at Thunder Tower

**DarkFoxKit: *Is hesitating while looking at a familiar heartshaped icon on the computer* A-are you sure I have to do the… erm… 'geno' run?**

 **Donfyre: Yeeeeees! You'll learn a lot of the game's story. And so what if you're practically killing off all your friends? I can hack into your files to reverse the effects! …. Maybe, haven't tested it yet. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: H-how can you make me be so heartless? ;A; … *looks at the camera* WAH! Who turned the camera on!? We're not ready yet! *picks it up* H-hey guys! We weren't talking about a possible genocide run with Undertale or anything! *laughs nervously* Don't be ridiculous! Ha...ha...ha… heh… ^^'**

 **Donfyre: You're not the best at lying sometimes, Fox. :P B-but yeah, what she said! Besides, we're not here to talk about Undertale right now, this is a Mother 3 fanfic! ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Y-yeah… just… don't tell Sans or anything… o-okay? … Err… not that I'm planning on anything… AHEM! Uh… oh right, this chapter! This is another Claus chapter, we decided it's not worth torturing you wonderful fans with cliffhangers for too long… for now. And Claus is going to have his hands full at Thunder Tower… what? Surprised that Claus is going there and not Lucas like in the game?**

 **Donfyre: ROLE REVERSAL! c: But yeah, you get to see Claus's experience in Thunder Tower.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Should be fun~ Anyways… *looks at the icon on the computer again* … M-maybe another time…**

 **Donfyre: NOOOOO! DX You have to doooo iiiiit.**

 **DarkFoxKit: TwT I'm gonna hate myself if I do though! DX … Erm… probably a good time to answer the reviews now.**

 **Donfyre: Yeeaaah… about that. *looks at the time* It's kinda late and tomorrow's Monday. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Oh right, you still have school and extra stuff to worry about. Heh, Fyre's such a hard working boy~ *pets him* Okay, you get to bed then, I'll answer the reviews since you gotta get up early tomorrow. Oh and just so you people know, we do our ANs late at night to make sure everyone's who reviewed in the week gets answered, that and we tend to get busy in the day. ^^' Any last words you want to say to our readers before you go, Fyre?**

 **Donfyre: Huh? You're actually letting me sleep early? T-thanks. ^^; And, uh… not much I have to say. Maybe… sorry I can't answer the reviews. DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: It's okay, I'm sure the readers will understand. *huggles Fyre* Now you go on, I'll finish up the rest!**

 **Donfyre: Alrighty, have fun with the reviews then! c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: *after Fyre left to get some much needed rest, I began answering the reviews.***

 **Doodles234: Heh, I'll let your imagination wander on that then. :3**

 **Shimo no ko: Yup, no reason for anything unusual to happen on their birthday. :3 And at that point, Claus does want to give them hints he could use PSI, he's conflicted about it and secretly hoping they would figure it out even if he knows they shouldn't. What do you mean by Lucas's house would live up to its name in Mother 3?**

 **Guest: Uh… I have reviews. ^^' Heh… things aren't always what they appear to be.**

 **The-Great-Me-sama: When Lucas and Claus are together, it meshes with both of them, but mostly Claus since I feel he's the main protagonist most of the time in this particular story.  
Heh, no, I think most fanfics involve birthdays for something bad to happen, but I'm not quite as predictable. :3**

 **Soleil: Hi again!**

 **Yeah, I kinda like Fuel too myself… he doesn't really get a big part in this story, sadly, but at least we acknowledge him.**

 **Thanks, we're glad you enjoy this story and that it's well done~ :D**

 **You'll see when Lucas will find out, because you're right; no secret can be hidden forever. ;) And waiting is hard for all of us, especially to a certain co-writer who was here not too long ago. :3**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: Still so sad! ;^; And yeah, I know how that excitement feels. ^^' Heh, you're the only one who calls us those. XD**

 **Connor the speling pro: I was wondering where you were for the last chapter. ^^'**

 **Heh, you would think that Lucas would connect the dots by now, and in a way he has, but Claus constantly instil doubts in his mind. I've actually experienced this in real life; all the clues and obvious evidence points to something, but I still end up not figuring it out, not because I was too dense to realize it, but because of the doubt. I knew it was there, I figured it out it was there, but I end up not getting it because the doubt made me think otherwise. So yeah, people with low self esteem like Lucas here will tend to say it's not true if they have too much doubt in their mind.**

 **I figured you'd like the part of them discussing things. :3 Right, these were already written long before we started thinking about the POV stuff. ^^' And it'd take a while to re-edit everything so… Anyways, I hope you like this chapter!**

 **Guest: Yeah, get used to it, I specialize at leaving cliffhangers. :3 Glad you liked the cute chapter. Ooh, another vote for the bubble. :3**

 **FlameEyeGamer: Yes, we knew that a long time ago. It's hard to miss since a lot of fans say that on comments. ^^'**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan: It's okay, Fyre and I tend to get too busy to answer in the daylights of Sunday like we should. ^^' Hence why Fyre had to go to bed, he has school tomorrow.**

 **Heh, well Spongebob does tend to overexaggerate things. And Flint sure is determined to get those omelets perfect if he spent the whole morning making them after nine failures. XD**

 **There's a reason why I made their birthday special; it's because… well… I don't know how to say it without spoiling a few things. ^^' Maybe I'll let you figure it out with the later chapters. And I too prefer just playing Pokemon with my friends instead of going out for social activity. XD**

 **Yeah, the two brothers really do care for each other and it shows here, even after all this time and hardships. And yeah, Boney kept that huge bone just for them, he really does care for them despite his sarcastic personality.**

 **As I told to Connor earlier, it's not because Lucas is too dense to figure it out, he actually already connected the dots, it's just he's doubtful of it. And doubt is what causes people to discard what should be obvious to everyone else.**

 **Well… Boney doesn't quite know, he just thought he misunderstood what Claus meant. ^^' And as for Lucas learning Claus has PSI in the next chapter… I'll let you read what happens. And don't worry about their house getting struck by lightning. ^^'**

 **Of course, I wouldn't leave out good ol' Saturn Valley!**

 **I know, right? It'd be awesome to see this in a game format. *stars in my eyes* And yeah, we know how that feels, so we understand how life gets in the way a lot. ^^'**

 **Well, the last chapter did explain why Claus's bracelet broke; it's because his PSI is maturing, getting stronger, so it broke whatever was trying to suppress it. And… heh… a new one may not come that quickly. But hope you like the Thunder Tower fiasco. :)**

 **I know, right? Boney was one of my favorites in Mother 3! I mean it's not very often you get a dog as a permanent party member in an RPG! Especially one without any kind of supernatural powers. I want Boney to be a little more noticed, so he's in the story~ And wow, that cat must be a dog with a cat's body then. XD**

 **I'm glad you agree with me on how Lucas developed in Brawl's story, I just wish we saw more of him and Ness though since it's the only time they'll ever meet! DX And when I first saw Lucas, I kinda thought he was one of those characters who have great potential but is scared of everything, I was kinda right. ^^'**

 **Heh… I had no idea what Mother was until recently myself. ^^' But I did like those psychic powers too, they are pretty cool. And wow, you were 6? … I feel old now.**

 **Heh… ironically it's the same time over here right now as I'm typing this. ^^'**

 **Thank you! We're happy to know you enjoy this from both of us! We hope you'll enjoy this chapter! :)**

 **DarkFoxKit: And with that, this is DarkFoxKit, my co-writer is Donfyre, and we look forward to hearing from you!**

* * *

 **Chapter 20: Trouble at Thunder Tower**

Claus was moving through the night sky with his winged jetpack. The boy loved how nice and free it was to just fly outside in the open, joining the birds in the air and feeling the wind in his face- well half his face. The synthetic eye wasn't bothered by the winds and the block on the helmet that covered his left organic eye kept the winds out, so he could easily fly without whiplash. The boy soon came up to a large tower and began landing to the base of it, not wanting to get struck by lightning if he tried to land at the top.

Claus managed to land on his feet, he had finally mastered the art of flying and landing. There ahead of him was a Pigmask Captain, who quickly saluted when he saw the Commander.

"Sir! We hadn't expected you to come at this time… but the presence is still appreciated." The Pigmask Captain said.

Claus just nodded. "I still have my duty to do. Now what's the situation here?" he demanded, wanting to get right to the point.

"We're not sure, sir! We think an intruder came through here and is sabotaging everything, because Thunder Tower is constantly glitching out when it shouldn't be! It's become very unstable and we're worried it might explode at this rate!" The Pigmask Captain squealed.

"I'll go and check it out, make sure everyone's at their post and not panicking too much." Claus said as the Captain gave an oink and saluted.

* * *

Once inside, Claus found himself riding on an elevator as it slowly took him up. He just hope it didn't suddenly stop with him inside it. Thankfully the elevator stopped at the floor without trouble and let him out.

The young Commander looked around the inside of Thunder Tower as he had never been in here himself before. It was a new thing to him, but he knew it existed about the same time the Clayman Factory was built, because it was needed to help recharge them when they're sent out to protect the colonies scattered in the continents. The lightning bolts they shot out were meant to go a far distance across the world for the Claymen that needed recharging, but if it's going out of whack then the colonies will be in danger and so will be everyone else on the island, after all one stray bolt could easily kill a person.

Claus spoke to some of the Pigmasks in the area, most of them were calm but there were a few running around in panic. The entire atmosphere in this place was charged with electricity as Claus noticed since he could practically charge his own Thunder Striker by the atmosphere alone, and he briefly wondered what they used to keep so much electricity in this place. The boy went into another room and saw some robots moving around in the area, most likely trying to keep things stable… but there were also these strange moving head things with tiny robot arms/feet to walk on and their brain was showing in that glass dome in replacement of their heads. Claus paled as he thought about losing his head next and is forced to wear glass to keep his brain inside... the boy shuddered at the thought and was thankful he was wearing a helmet.

The little mole robot looked at him for a second and Claus blinked and looked back at it, wondering why it was staring at him. The mole robot thing suddenly nuzzled itself against his leg like an affectionate cat and Claus's expression went from curious to deadpanned. _What kind of creature is this?_

Uncomfortable with the affection the mole robot thing was showing him, the young Commander stepped away from it and moved to another room quickly. Claus sighed in relief when he got into another room and saw only Pigmasks there instead of more of those mole robots. But what else he saw here interested him… there was a big glass full of water with some kind of electric catfish swimming inside.

"Oh Commander!" Claus perked his head up when someone called to him, it was one of the lower ranking Pigmasks. "We weren't expecting you at this hour, but we're glad you're here! We think the generator's in danger!"

"The generator? Where is it?" Claus demanded.

"At the very top of Thunder Tower." The Pigmask answered. "If only they could've made the electric catfish as easily rechargeable as the Clayman in the Chimera Lab this wouldn't be so bad, but as of now we're dangerously low on electricity because the generator is shooting out all we have!"

"It's shooting out everything…?" Claus repeated, frowning. "Do you know what could have hijacked everything?"

The Pigmask scratched his head. It didn't seem like he was very well-informed too much. "Well, uh… I just know that the electricity's being depleted. I think I heard someone could have hijacked the machinery, and maybe even did something to the catfish here that generates electricity. They look sick."

Claus glanced at the catfish. He can't say he's ever seen them before, but they were huge, and looked kinda like catfish. They were just floating there in place, and they didn't seem like they had much of a will to live anymore. Claus had never actually been in the Chimera Lab before either, he's never been too fond of a place where they experiment on creatures. "Right… is it safe to investigate the top of the tower then?"

"We're not sure. The Pork Trooper forbid anyone from going up there in fear that some intruder would go up there." The Pigmask said. "So we can't investigate the top."

Claus heard about Pork Trooper, he remembered seeing him in the DCMC's concert multiple times in Club Titiboo, he was a really big guy and high rank, but he was really his own rank so Claus wasn't sure what to rank him as. The Pork Trooper is physically very strong, but he tends to be a lot more hasty than Claus himself used to be.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do." Claus nodded, making his way towards what he believed to be the path to the top of the tower.

"Good luck, Commander!" the Pigmask said, saluting. Just as Claus was out of his sight, the Pigmask suddenly remembered something. "O-oh, wait, sir! … Bah, he's already gone. I heard there was some kind of security system up there… He'll probably be fine, he _is_ the Commander." With that, the Pigmask continued his work while Claus kept walking.

* * *

 _The base of Thunder Tower was pretty big, there were tons of those robots and mole robots running around, though they didn't bother me. The mole robots kind of creep me out, they seem to have a thing for me for some reason. Still I tried my best to ignore them and keep going. I climbed some stairs and saw some Pigmasks at their posts, frantically typing things into their machines. But I did stop and talk to my old friend the Colonel who had been supportive of me since my early days._

"Colonel sir! Is there any status report you may know of that the others didn't have?" Claus asked the Colonel Pigmask.

"Ah, Commander! What are you doing up at this hour?" The Pigmask Colonel asked.

"I've heard the distress signal and wanted to check things out." Claus simply said and was getting rather irritated that everyone keeps telling him that.

"Oh… well I thought Fassad would be the one coming… but okay, since you're here we could use all the help we can get. We're not able to control the electric currents anymore and it's causing a lot of problems." The Pigmask Colonel said. "We're worried this might make Thunder Tower explode soon, it's building up too much electricity inside the generator."

"You suspect sabotage?" Claus asked.

"We think it's highly likely someone hacked into the system, none of us can control the computer sets anymore. Someone needs to go up there and manually shut down the generator!" The Pigmask Colonel said frantically.

"Then why isn't anyone doing that?" Claus demanded.

"Sadly none of us are able to shutdown the generator, it's going out of control." The Pigmask Colonel squealed. "It keeps shocking us unconscious whenever we try!"

Claus frowned as he thought about this. "... I might be the only one able to match it… lightning by lightning… I'll go and try to shut it down."

The Pigmask Colonel noticed Claus's hesitation. "Right, well you should still be careful, Commander. It's a tough machine. Everyone's been authorized to use brute force if necessary, so don't be afraid to go all out if you need to trying to shut it down."

"Thank you for the information, Colonel. I will do the best I can to shut it off before worse comes to worst." Claus said. "You just try to keep everything under control here."

"Yes sir!" The Colonel saulted to the young Commander.

Claus gave a nod before he hurried to the next room, climbing the stairs. The boy knew he had to hurry, and was using his helmet to help him map out the place so he knew where to go. The boy could sense the electricity charging the higher he went up the stairs. Finally he stopped when he came to a room filled with DCMC action figures and banners. "What the…?"

Standing by the door that lead to the upper base of Thunder Tower was the Pork Trooper, a big fellow indeed, and he was wearing a blue battle armor. If Claus hadn't known any better he'd say the Pork Trooper was of the Captain rank if not slightly a Major. The young 13 year old approached him, trying to keep his confidence up. "Pork Trooper, I must ask to pass so I can shut down the generator before it explodes."

The Pork Trooper didn't even look directly at Claus at first. He made some weird sniffing, snorting noises, making Claus feel a little more than disturbed. The gruff guy finally spoke, "Hey, no kids up allowed in this area. What're you doing in here anyways? Isn't it too dark already?"

"Pork Trooper, while I admit I'm pretty young I came here on official duty to shut down the generator. Now kindly move out of the way so I can do my job." Claus said, trying to draw patience.

"What…?" the Pork Trooper seemed surprised and maybe a little annoyed at the response. He actually decided to look at Claus this time, and the young boy just stared back with a frown, his visible red eye narrowing. He didn't like being treated like a delinquent, especially after his early days in the army when everyone picked on him for his age. "... Oh, C-Commander! Is that you?!" The Pork Trooper's demeanor visibly faded as he stepped back in slight nervousness.

"If you had bothered to look at me before judging how I smell you would've known that, Pork Trooper." Claus said calmly. "Do you have anything else you would like to say to me?"

"N-no sir! I apologize Commander! I was just told to stand guard to make sure no renegades get past me since they might've caused the malfunction!" The Pork Trooper quickly squealed.

Claus would've laughed at how funny this huge, intimidating muscled soldier was squealing and begging for forgiveness to a tiny barely in his teens Commander, but he kept his composure. "You keep doing that then. I'll go in and make sure there aren't any in the upper base."

"Y-yes sir! Of course sir!" The Pork Trooper squealed as he allowed the 13 year old through.

 _Guess being the Commander has its funny moments too._ Claus amused to himself as he began climbing the ladder to the upper base of Thunder Tower.

* * *

Claus hurried up each stairs and noticed there were sparks of electricity going everywhere around the place, he was careful to avoid as much as he could, but a few did manage to zap him a bit. The boy was resistant to it and it felt more like a bee sting than anything else, but he hurried as he could sense the high voltage gathering above and it could blow at any minute. It discharged a few lightning but it's not enough to get rid of all the voltages that were building up. The boy wished he could just fly up there, but if he did he knew he'd be struck down.

By the time the young Commander made it to the door, he was tired from all the running and climbing. He panted as he looked to see- to his surprise- that the room was a nice looking playroom for a child, and the star-shaped hot springs in the center of the room sure looked inviting to him right now. But there was one little thing that caught his attention… Li'l Miss Marshmallow, she was there too. Claus paled in horror when he noticed her there, now worried she would go ballistic on him if she saw him in- he's assuming to be- Master Porky's room. Why would Master Porky have a room in the Thunder Tower anyways?

Claus flatten himself against the wall and tried to move without the robot maid noticing him. Sadly, his foot hit the jack-in-the-box and made something pop out, almost scaring the living daylights out of him. This of course caught Li'l Miss Marshmallow's attention to him.

The robot maid turned to Claus, and the boy froze and stuck to the wall, hoping with all his heart that he wouldn't be seen. Li'l Miss Marshmallow's robotic eyes twisted, squinted, and adjusted itself, all the while continuing to look in Claus's direction. A few moments passed, and Claus began to hope that she didn't notice him, but suddenly… she quickly made her way to the boy and grabbed the sides of his body. "DIRTY DIRTY ENTITY. YOU CANNOT BE HERE MAKING MASTER KING P'S ROOM DIRTY, OR I WILL BE MAD. MAD! _MAD_!"

"Gah! Hey let go of me you crazy robot! I'm not a thing either! You can't just put me in the washer!" Claus yelled as she pulled him. "Let go of my coat or I will not hesitate to PK Thunder you to pieces!"

"VERY MAD MAD MAD! YOU-YOU NEED TO BE WASHED MISTER!" She either ignored or, being a robot, didn't understand Claus's protests. She continued to pull him over towards the large hot spring in the middle of the room, shaped like a star. Why Porky had with this in his room… Claus didn't know, nor did he want to.

"What are you doing!?" Claus snapped as the robot pushed him into the hot springs and he fell in with a big SPLASH!

"NOW WASH! BE CLEAN! DON'T LEAVE DIRTY FOOTPRINTS IN KING P'S ROOM!" Li'l Miss Marshmallow said as she beeped a bit.

Claus groaned as he lifted his head from the water. _I'm so glad Dr. Andonuts made my helmet waterproof or my brain would be frying right now._ "AH! You ruined my coat! This coat does NOT go with water!" Though strangely enough the nice hot water did soothe him a lot, almost to the point where he could forget that he was electrocuted on his way up here.

* * *

The young, now soaked boy was making his way back out of the hot spring. He really just wanted to get out of this room and its crazy robot as fast as possible, but suddenly a weird, slimy green thing popped up in front of him! "WAAH!" Claus yelled, jumping back a little.

… It was a frog. Claus felt a little embarrassed that he got scared by a _frog_ but given what just happened, he was a little jittery. _"Oh, hello there! Did the robot throw you in here too?"_ the frog said… or croaked.

"... Yes… yes it did." Claus said to the frog as he moved to get out of the hot pool he was in.

" _Wait a minute… boy, did you just answer me back? Can you understand me?"_ The frog asked, genuinely sounding intrigued.

Claus looked at the frog and frowned, "... Uh… is that really so surprising?"

" _The fact that you can understand me is indeed surprising. Which means you must be one of the chosen few who has the special PSI!"_ The frog croaked excitedly.

"... Riiiight… well I'm going to get out now and be on my way." Claus said, not sure why the frog is acting like it's such a big deal, the other animals didn't seem all that surprised when Lucas spoke to them.

" _Oh, wait if you please!"_ the frog quickly croaked, swimming in front of the boy. _"I have something to tell you, since you can use PSI. I am what is known as a save frog, a special kind of frog."_

Claus raised an eyebrow. _Porky keeps some weird things in his room…_

The frog continued, _"I can see in your PSI that you have a long journey ahead. If you happen to make a grave mistake in the middle of it, or something happens to you… I could give you a second chance at life, but only once."_

The young Commander looked at the frog skeptically, there was no way a simple frog could bring him back to life if he were to die, but still he decided to humor the little amphibian and said, "Alright fine. I'll let you 'save' me if that should ever happen."

The frog gave a happy croak before it jumped on his chest for a few seconds and jumped back down. _"There, now if something happens to you then you will return here like it never happened. But like I said I can only do this once, so be careful. Other save frogs on this island can do the same, but only to PSI users who can hear them."_

"Okay… well thanks. I'll be going now." Claus said as he moved past Li'l Miss Marshmallow quickly, not wanting to deal with her again and climbed towards the top of the tower.

* * *

When the young Commander made it into the generator room, he was taken back how huge it was. The entire thing was buzzing with electricity at dangerously high voltage. When Claus got closer to it the alarms suddenly went off. The boy frowned as he used his helmet and synthetic eye to try and find the off switch on this thing. Claus walked forward and turned his head, only to see… something was coming out of the generator. It looked like some kind of human-like robot with electric magnets for hands. Its gleaming red irises glowed as it lunged at him.

"Wha?!" Before Claus had time to react, the large security robot swung a large, electrically charged magnet arm at the boy, causing him to fly back into a wall. The electricity really stung the boy, but the impact knocked the breath out of him. He quickly regained his composure, turning his mechanical arm into the cannon arm. His other hand brushed over the hilt of his Thunder Striker, but he stopped himself. Using electricity against this thing probably wouldn't be the best idea…

 _Guess I'll have to make do with just my PSI…_ He took aim at the giant robot, who was looking at Claus with hostility. "SUSPICIOUS INDIVIDUAL DETECTED. PROGRAM ACTIVATED TO DESTROY."

 _So this is what's been attacking everyone?_ Claus thought. _If I could just shut it down then maybe I can stop the explosion._

The Generator attacked again by swinging its arms to try and hit the boy. Claus managed to jumped out of the way and focused on his PSI. "Offense Down!" He pointed at the electric robot and an orange glow came over it, causing it to weaken. "Defense Down!" This time a blue glow covered the Generator.

Claus ran to it and shot out his PSI Blast at its face, causing massive damage. Generator sparked but was far from out. It moved its arms around and slammed Claus into the wall again. The boy groaned, but he glared, if he remembered his science right… water conducted electricity, the closest thing to water he had on him was his PK Freeze.

The Generator was swinging its arms wildly at him again, and Claus jumped back a bit before focusing. "PK FREEZE!" It was a beta level and the ice formed around the Generator, causing it to rust a tiny bit.

The large robot malfunctioned a little bit, twitching and moving to the sides, before finally breaking the ice formed around it. It looked at Claus and the boy could see a large amount of electricity flow around it. Claus just watched for a few moments, curious as to what it was doing and hesitant to attack in case it countered.

Waiting was a mistake though - the Generator was finished with all the electricity, and quickly discharged all in Claus's direction. He put his cannon arm in front of him in a hasty way to shield himself. The boy gave a scream as his body was filled with searing electricity. By the time the discharge was finished, Claus stumbled back, his entire body feeling tingly and stinging.

"PK Lifeup Beta… would be good right now..." Claus mumbled to himself. He almost wished Lucas was here right now, but he had to focus on his task. Gaining his composure and stumbling back to his feet, he noticed that the large robot had temporarily shut down after that large attack. Digging into his pocket, he quickly munched on a beef jerky, Fassad had told him to keep food on his person as it could help heal him since he didn't have any healing PSI.

"YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!" Claus shouted after he chomped down the beef jerky, feeling a little better from that discharge attack.

The boy quickly ran at the weakened robot and was about to attack with his PSI Cannon when his synthetic eye suddenly pointed at someone else being here. "Huh?" But he couldn't afford to be distracted and shot out the beam from his cannon at the Generator.

Claus had to ignore what his robotic eye was telling him since he noticed the Generator was biding its time. His helmet tells him that it's slowly recovering itself, so he had to end this quick. "PK Love!" He shot out his most powerful PSI attack, despite it only being in the alpha stage it still did the most damage compared to his other PSI.

The blue hexagon energy exploded at the Generator's face. Claus was about to attack it again, but it regained its energy and pushed him back with its electric magnets. Claus hissed from the burning sensation of the electricity. _Its weakness is water… it'll cause it to rust… I have to get it to rust if I hope to defeat it._ "PK FREEZE!" The boy shot out more ice crystals at the Generator.

The PSI attack hit the large robot once again, this time more ice and traces of water forming around the Generator. Even more rust began to form around the robot, and it had difficulty shaking these crystals off. It shook itself frantically, and Claus could see that this was an opportunity to finish it off.

Claus used his jetwings to fly himself up at the Generator's head and used just about all the PSI he had left into this blast. His PSI Cannon charged and he put it against the stunned Generator's head. "Lights out for you." And he let out the biggest PSI blast he ever done- minus the raw PK Love he let loose when the renegade Pigmasks invaded Tazmily- completely destroying the robot's head.

* * *

Claus landed on the ground and fell to his hands and knees, tired from the fight and using such a large chunk of his PSI in that one shot. "Okay… now just… gotta… shut it down…"

As the young Commander was trying to regain his strength to stand up, he heard someone clapping from behind him. He turned around to see a Pigmask… but this one was black, unlike any other Pigmask color he's seen before, renegade or not. "Wow Commander, you're a lot stronger than I gave you credit for."

"Who… who are you?" Claus demanded as he quickly got back to his feet and his visible red eye glared as it scanned the mysterious Pigmask before him. "What… are… you doing… here?" he was still tired from that fight.

When Claus's synthetic eye tried to scan the black Pigmask, all he got was a strange red mist and a skeleton-like face staring at him. This caused the young Commander to gasp as his eyes went wide, his face sweat, he had never felt such intense evil before.

"I congratulate you for taking the robot out. It was on the highest possible setting to annihilate anyone who opposed it. I must say, your will to protect this world is… very strong." When the Pigmask spoke, it's voice sounded almost… distorted.

Claus was still in shock from whatever the heck he scanned, but he tried to hide his fear and glare at the black Pigmask. "Yes… because I care about the people who live in it… are you the one who is leading the renegade Pigmask army? Why did you have them set the forest on fire? Why did you have them attack Tazmily? Are you _that_ desperate to destroy the world!?"

"Not destroy it, rather recreate it." The black Pigmask said calmly. "This is nothing but a giant wasteland now, it _needs_ to be reborn. I don't know if you've noticed, but the time is here, once the morning sun rises in the sky I assure you that the first of the seven Needles will be pulled. And as for the forest fire and the attack on Tazmily… I didn't issue those orders, those bumbling buffoons just mistook my orders. I wanted them to find the PK Love user, not attack the village, just goes to show never send a minion to do a man's job."

Claus was still glaring in defiance. "What do you mean the time is here? The Needles aren't going to be pulled already…"

"Oh but they will, the Magypsies have decided it's already time. And since we only need one PK Love user and you're just going to stand in the other's way, might as well take you out now so you won't be a threat later." The black Pigmask said as he took out a remote control.

"Wait, what are you going to do?" Claus demanded, his eyes widen as he had a really bad feeling.

"Thanks to you destroying that security robot, I was able to gain full control over the generator. One push of this button and this entire tower goes boom." The black Pigmask said.

"You're crazy! You'll be caught up in it too!" The young Commander yelled.

"I can survive such an explosion thanks to a very close friend of mine. You however, you're going to be nothing but a memory. Too bad, you've had such potential too." The black Pigmask spoke in an almost taunting way.

Claus's eyes went wide as the black Pigmask pushed the button and there was a loud explosion and a lot of agonizing screaming. The last thing he saw was the Pigmask being shielded from the explosion as his body was in agony from the flames around him. Claus shut his eyes as he fell into oblivion.

* * *

" _... Ribbit… Rise and shine!"_

Claus's eyes open as he saw a green slimy creature over his chest, looking right at him. "WAH!" He jolted back shock.

" _Back already? That took no time at all… Is something the matter? I suppose experiencing near-death is a traumatizing experience."_ The creature, a familiar looking frog, said, hopping up and down on Claus's chest.

 _W-whoa whoa whoa, wait… where…?_ Claus looked around at his surroundings. He was in a familiar, colorful room full of children's toys, a hot spring, a crazy robot maid doing cleaning… Then he quickly checked himself, his uniform, his entire body… good, he was still all in one piece. "H-how… how am I _alive_? That black Pigmask made the tower explode!"

The frog croaked as it spoke to him, _"Didn't you hear what I told you before? I gave you a second chance. Should you die you would end up back here like it never happened, sadly this only works once per save frog you meet. So don't waste this second chance and learn from your mistake!"_

Claus's eyes widen as he stared at the frog. "What _are_ you? How are you even able to turn back time and make it like it never even happened? I-I mean… you're just a frog, right?"

" _Hmph, yeah I'm just a frog, almost like how you're just a kid."_ The frog just responded in a matter-of-fact tone. Claus just shook his head, not knowing if he should continue questioning what just happened or just brush it off and be happy that he was still alive.

" _... Well, what are you gonna do now? If you don't hurry, you might lose your life again. And I can only save you once."_ The frog said, snapping Claus out of his thoughts and reminding him what he had to do.

"O-oh, right!" Claus stood up as he gently took the frog in his hand. "Thank you."

" _Don't mention it, just be sure to save Thunder Tower this time. I really like this place."_ The frog said as Claus put him down.

"I'll do the best I can." Claus said with determination as he hurried to the generator room once more.

* * *

This time, using both his helmet and synthetic eye, he scanned for any signs of life. There, he could see the black Pigmask just outside the generator room. _I'll have to hurry out there before the security robot sees me._

Claus crouched down and took off as fast as he could to the exit, avoiding the Generator robot. Once outside, he saw the black Pigmask was already running, climbing higher. It was windy this high in the sky and Claus noticed the night sky was slowly being light up by the morning sun.

"Oh no you don't, you're not getting away!" Claus hissed as he ran up the ladder after the black Pigmask, cornering him at the top.

"Well now… I didn't think the Commander would've spotted me so quickly. And here I was hoping you'd take on that troublesome security system so I can hack into the generator." The black Pigmask said, though he still sounded calm despite his plans failing.

"So you were the one who sabotaged Thunder Tower. What did you hope to gain by making the entire place explode?" Claus demanded.

The black Pigmask slowly shook his head. "I didn't think you'd get right to the point, Commander. It's almost as if you were expecting me here this entire time."

"Don't change the subject. Why do you want to destroy Thunder Tower? You'd be killing innocent lives!" Claus snapped.

"It's simple… this Thunder Tower is making it near impossible for my own army to destroy those annoying colonies you have out there. This world is not meant to be lived in anymore." The black Pigmask said. "And the only lives that will end are the ones who foolishly thought it's still worth living in this dead world."

"This 'dead' world is our home. It's something we want to revive one day with our own hands, and standing in our way is only going to make us fight back even harder." Claus growled. "So what's your plan now? I wasn't the pawn you were hoping I'd be."

"This place must be gone." The black Pigmask hissed. "If it was just those bumbling Pigmasks then this would be a snap, but taking on the Commander himself at full strength would just be suicide right now. Why don't you join with me then? You have great potential and you can use PK Love, surely you can understand that this world must be fixed and only the Dark Dragon can do that, right?"

Claus grabbed the hilt of his Thunder Striker sword and immediately activated it, sparking with electricity as the blade shined dangerously and he turned his right hand into the cannon mode, ready for a fight.

The black Pigmask didn't even flinch- nor did he even put up any resistance against Claus's reaction. He simply spoke, quietly, emphasizing his words. "So you wish to fight against me instead? I see… You would clearly make a formidable opponent, so... you win Commander. I desist… for now." the black Pigmask said, slowly stepping back with his arms out to his sides. To Claus, it seemed almost seemed like the Pigmask was taunting the boy, begging him to just try and come at the black Pigmask and attack.

* * *

However, before Claus could do anything, the black Pigmask fell off the tower, shocking the boy. The young Commander ran to the edge to see- much to his confusion- the black Pigmask was gone. There was not a single trace of him there. _How did he just disappear like that?_

Claus looked up at the sky, seeing the morning sun had risen higher. The boy usually enjoyed the morning sun, but this one made him uneasy as he recalled what the black Pigmask had said before the frog saved him. _"I don't know if you've noticed, but the time is here, once the morning sun rises into the sky I assure you that the first of the seven Needles will be pulled."_

Claus frowned as he watched the morning sun rise higher into the sky. _What did he mean by-_

Suddenly the entire place began to tremble, which caught the young Commander by surprise as he slipped from the tower. Claus yelped as he activated his jetwings to keep from hitting the ground. He noticed the entire place was still shaking, which normally wouldn't be so bad since they've dealt with earthquakes before… but then there was a strange beating sound as it shook the island. Another strange thing were the lights of the world shift colors as if it was in a disco dance room. After a minute, the trembling, the strange lights, and the beating finally stopped and the Commander landed at the base of the tower, confused.

"C-Commander! What was that tremble just now!?" The Pigmask Captain oinked frantically. He had emerged from outside the tower, after seeing Claus land outside.

"I don't know… but I have a really bad feeling about this." Claus said in an uneasy tone. "A real bad feeling…"


	21. Chapter 21: The First Needle

**DarkFoxKit: Okay guys, looks like I'll be alone in the ANs today, so- *was suddenly trampled on by a certain Wooper***

 **Donfyre: HIIIIIIIIYA, FOX! c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: …. Get… off… of… ME! *pushes Fyre off* What are you doing here? I thought you were too tired to come on!**

 **Donfyre: Eh heh heh… my current circumstance lets me. Namely... modifying space-time and stuff. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: … As in Determination and Save points? -_-'**

 **Donfyre: … Sure! Let's put it that way! :P Aw, what's wroooong? You don't seem happy to see me! DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: *Pounces on Fyre* On the contrary, I'm VERY happy to see you. *nibbles on his antenna***

 **Donfyre: WAH! O-okay then. Interesting way to show that you are… ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: By the way readers, this is probably gonna be one of the longest chapters we've put into the story. Most of Parts 3, 4 and 5 will have these incredibly long chapters, but we will give you guys a choice; do you want these longer chapters? Or would you prefer it if we split them so it'd be easier to read? Of course if we do split them, there's a good chance you might have to wait a little longer for more chapters.**

 **Donfyre: Kind of a pick-your-poison kind of thing. Really long chapters or more breathable chapters, albeit with shorter chapters you'll have to wait longer.**

 **DarkFoxKit: And if we do give longer chapters, then we may wait two weeks to upload another since they're chapters long enough to give us a two week break from uploading. I think that's fair, don't you?**

 **Donfyre: Oh, then I guess you guys might still have to wait a while if we post a really long chapter. But it's fair for us! XP**

 **DarkFoxKit: *climbs on top of Fyre* And this is a Lucas chapter, which shows what Lucas was doing while Claus went off to Thunder Tower.**

 **Donfyre: Yeah. So just imagine the clock winded back a little while you read this chapter. *gently pushes Fox off* :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: *pounces Fyre down and pins him to the ground* Okay, and I think that's it for now. Fyre here has to go now, so I'll answer the reviews alone again, but hopefully he'll be able to answer them again next week! c:**

 **Donfyre: You keep tackling me! DX *squirms under her* But yeah, I have to go… I can't disappear from my own timeline for very long! XP But I should hopefully be able to answer them with Fox here next week. Now, see all of yas! Have fuuuun, Fox! :P *disappears with a POOF from below her***

 **DarkFoxKit: ... Weh! Alright fine, time for me to do my thing. *puts on reading glasses and looks at the list of reviews* AHEM!**

 **FanofFiction123 : You'll learn to love the cliffhangers. :3  
**

 **Heh, well Claus does seem to be that type of guy once he's become a commander regardless of his age, don't you think?**

 **Yeah, but I don't plan on using the save frogs a lot, keeps it from destroying the tension.**

 **Shimo no ko : Really? I suppose the save frogs are a bit more convenient that the phones you use at the hotels, especially when you're far from a town. And your question if Lucas pulled the Needle will be answered in this long chapter. Ah, so that's what you mean, well don't worry; Thunder Tower didn't strike the house. Heh, it'll be more than just awkward, and as for the cliffhangers... heh, sorry, they're going to be a little more common in this arc! c:**

 **UM : Nice name. ;P And yes, a Needle did get pulled, and it'll be answered by whom in this chapter.**

 **Connor the speling pro : But cheesy isn't always bad. And yes, I'm very much aware doing something like that is generally a bad idea, which is why I don't plan on using it much, if at all, later on, but I did want people to see how I interpret save frogs. And it's only really necessary in this situation.**

 **No, the Magypsies are not working for the renegades, but of course this doesn't become clear as to why they listened to the black Pigmask until this chapter.**

 **I didn't think using general words were a bad thing, especially since it gets its point across.**

 **And Claus meant when the ice melts, guess I didn't make that really clear, my bad.**

 **CalmTheHydreigon : You know, for your name, you're not very calm. ^^' But glad to see you're so excited that you glitched the review box.**

 **FlameEyeGamer : Heh, hey no worries, it was still nice of you to show us the anagram in case we didn't know it. Yeah, Nintendo's pretty cool with that, and Ninten DID come from a very early era so we can let that one slide. Donfyre and I thank you for your kind words and happy that you enjoy it so much! As for the cameras... let's just in a world of imagination you can have infinite stock of anything. ;)**

 **Guest : Neither of the brothers can stay out of trouble it seems. ^^'**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan : But being a good kid comes with a price.**

 **Undertale is a unique made RPG, but if you want more details I suggest you look up non-spoiler reviews on Youtube. It's hard to really talk about it without footage or spoiling it.**

 **Yeah, there's always that paranoid feeling that somethings going to go wrong in the elevators, so if I could help it I rather take the stairs, they're good for exercising anyways.**

 **The Whatevers were sure... interesting. I didn't know why they had so much affection for the commander (or Lucas, I'm not sure which they like) but it's pretty cute and I had to put it in there. XD**

 **Heh, even Claus thought it was pretty funny that a huge guy like Pork Trooper was cowering to a barely 13 year old, but hey, if a kid with a red eye and a mechanical arm that can transform into a cannon and can use psychic powers, wouldn't you be intimidated too?**

 **Erm... you may have forgotten, but Lucas already knows PK Flash, he used it in his battle against the Mecha Drago in chapter 3, remember? Though to be honest I don't really use it much, from both the game and the story.**

 **Yup, that's Li'l Miss Marshmallow for ya. ;P**

 **I did at least want to show how I interpret the save frogs from the game, and I figured this was the perfect way to do it, but don't expect me to use them much in this story as it would ruin the tension. And chopped carrots... I get it. XD**

 **The battle scene was pretty fun to write too, especially with the right type of music to motivate us. And Claus did mean when the ice melts, but I didn't make that clear so I apologize for that.**

 **The black Pigmask is going to be a rather _interesting_ character as the story progresses, and he only managed to kill Claus because Claus was tired and injured from fighting the Generator, remember he doesn't have any healing PSI like his brother does. And because Claus was fresh when he faced the black Pigmask again, that's why he disappeared.**

 **As for how the black Pigmask disappeared, let's just say he has certain _powers_.**

 **Who else could've pulled the Needle? Ah well, this chapter will answer that.**

 **We had to write them late due to Fyre's schedule, but this is why we're changing it to Saturday now and try to answer any reviews we get on Sundays if we can. And I've graduated from school, so it's not a problem for me, but Fyre on the other hand...**

 **Flint IS a determined guy.  
**

 **You guessed right, their birthday is the last peaceful day they had together.**

 **I have a lot of doubt myself, so I can understand that. And yeah, it's easy to see why Lucas would be doubtful.**

 **It's amazing how easy it is to miss the obvious if you think it's impossible, but it is how it is. And of course I wouldn't strike down their house.**

 **I'd love to see this in game format too! ^^**

 **No, Claus doesn't get a new bracelet, he kinda doesn't have time to right now. And I won't say if Lucas finds out Claus has PSI sometime soon or not, you'll just have to wait. ;P**

 **It's why I play Okami; you play as an awesome white wolf and can roam in a 3D environment, it's awesome! But wait... I've heard of Warriors the book but I didn't know there was an RPG of it! That would be so AWESOME! I love playing as animals, but I don't see a lot of games that let you play as animals.**

 **Oh well, at least we did get to see Lucas saving Ness in Smash 4, that was a really sweet trailer.**

 **I guess it's the same for me too, how I got into the Mother series. I just one day decided to try out Earthbound from the eShop and I've been hooked ever since.**

 **Oh? I'm surprised you told us your age through review since it's kinda public. But don't worry, we won't treat you like that because of your age. :)**

 **Thank you for your review and support! I look forward to hearing from you again soon and so does Donfyre!**

* * *

 **Chapter 21: The First Needle**

Lucas woke up later that night, he felt uneasy for some reason. "Claus… can we- Claus?" The blond haired boy frowned when he saw Claus's bed was empty. Worried now, Lucas sat up and tried to feel for his brother's aura, but he was nowhere in the house. "Claus… where'd you go…?" Lucas knew Claus couldn't have possibly left for work already since he's supposed to go there in the morning.

Lucas opened the door and was surprised to see Flint was there. "Lucas? What's wrong? I heard you calling out for Claus."

"He's gone, Dad! I-I don't know where he went!" Lucas frowned, looking rather frantic.

"... Was he kidnapped again? It isn't like Claus to just leave without warning..." Flint frowned as he tilted his hat. "You better get Boney and try to find him. I'll wait for him at home just in case he comes back."

"Okay, Boney and I will try to find him." Lucas said as he hurried outside, worried someone might've kidnapped his brother like that ninja girl tried to do a couple of years ago.

The blond haired 13 year old boy opened the door and saw Boney was already awake and was looking rather confused about something. "Boney! I'm glad you're up. Did you see anything happen to Claus?"

The dog looked at Lucas and gave a small yip. _"Yeah, Claus came out earlier. He said he couldn't sleep and wanted to go for a walk. But I could've sworn he was answering back to me… and to a comment I said about his hair earlier. Are you_ sure _he doesn't have PSI?"_

"He what?" Lucas blinked at that. "... Uh… no, never mind that now. We need to go find him, Boney!"

" _Claus told me to tell you not to worry about him! That he'll be back soon."_ Boney barked as Lucas was already running into town. The dog sighed as he hurried after the frantic 13 year old boy.

" _Lucas, didn't you hear me? Claus said he was just going for a walk, you don't have to worry about him!"_ Boney insisted as he was following Lucas.

"Well I _am_ worried! I want to make sure Claus is safe." Lucas said to the dog. "Can you smell his scent? Where was he walking?"

Boney gave a small whine before he began sniffing the ground. _"Alright, he went this way."_

* * *

Lucas followed the brown dog through the village until they came up to the graveyard. "What? Why would Claus go to the grave-" he stopped when he saw rotting corpse scattered all over the place, as if someone just bombed the bodies.

"What the…? What happened here?" Lucas said. A thousand images began playing in his mind about what could have happened to Claus. If he really was here… how did all these corpses get here too?!

Boney whimpered at the sight and smell. _"I don't like the scent here… it smells like rotting flesh and smoke…"_

"Claus did tell us that there were zombies here… but I didn't think it was possible for the dead to come back to life." Lucas frowned as he looked around. "Why would Claus come back here?"

" _I don't know, but his scent ends here."_ Boney said as he stood over a gravestone that looked quite different from the other gravestones.

"Here…?" Lucas asked, walking over and examining the gravestone. He feared the worst for Claus. "W-why would it end here? H-he can't be…"

" _Oh relax, Lucas, I doubt Claus would be buried_ that _quickly. I think I can feel a breeze here."_ Boney said when he noticed his worry. He was sniffing profoundly at an area of the gravestone that seemed oddly… loose.

Lucas's hopes went up, and he tried pushing the gravestone. It slide nicely, revealing a passageway that Lucas didn't know even existed in the graveyard… or that there was even a secret passageway in Tazmily in the first place. Everyone in the town usually knew of everything, at least… before the Pigmasks.

When Lucas pushed the gravestone that was when he noticed a tunnel down below and a ladder. "Wow…"

" _I smell more of Claus's scent. He definitely went through here."_ Boney yipped.

"This must lead to the Pigmask base. But why would Claus go there at this time of night?" Lucas wondered before he began climbing down the ladder.

" _He just said he wanted to go for a stroll. Bombing through zombies and coming down here seems more than just a stroll to me."_ The dog huffed as he followed Lucas down the ladder with his paws.

Once they reached the ground, Lucas and Boney were surprised there was a whole underground place. "Which way did Claus went?"

" _I don't know… his scent just disappeared."_ Boney whined.

"Then which way should we-" Lucas began to ask when a strange giant pink ball with a pig-like snout suddenly flew at them and parked, surprising the boy and the dog. "What the!?"

A door slide open from the strange vehicle, and a Pigmask came out. Lucas and Boney watched silently as the Pigmask seem to be checking something on a clipboard.

"... no good at all…" Lucas and Boney heard the Pigmask say, twiddling a pen in one hand. "We were sure the security in Thunder Tower was secure, how could…?"

" _Lucas!"_ Boney scratched at Lucas's leg with one paw, grabbing his attention. _"That big pink pig ball has Claus's scent inside! It's very strong!"_

 _In there?_ Lucas thought to himself, frowning. _What was he doing in that? Isn't he just a waterboy or something?_

Lucas and Boney slowly snuck past the distracted Pigmask as they boarded onto the strange pink pig vehicle. They looked around and noticed the advanced controls on the thing. Lucas looked at it curiously before touching a button, causing the door to close. The Pigmask outside turned when he heard the door shutting and squealed a bit. Lucas pushed another button and felt the vehicle moving a bit.

" _Lucas, what are you doing?"_ Boney asked when he saw the boy messing with the controls.

"I'm trying to see if this thing has a video that shows where Claus went or something." Lucas said as he began pulling a switch.

" _Lucas we don't know what this thing is! Don't-"_ The vehicle suddenly took off with such velocity that it threw both Boney and Lucas into the wall.

The Pigmask yelped and squealed loudly when the vehicle took off down the tunnel.

" _Lucas! Didn't your Dad teach you!? Don't touch what you don't understand!"_ Boney barked with a scolding tone at the boy.

"I- s-sorry! But we have to find Claus!" Lucas shouted over the barking dog. He let his hands go of the controls, halting the vehicle to a sudden stop and promptly propelling the boy and the dog forward. "Oof! … T-this must be one of those driving things that the Pigmasks introduced. I… think they're easy to use, I saw a frog driving one before…" Lucas scratched his head, hovering his other hand over the other complicated controls of the vehicle.

Boney was looking at Lucas nervously, not feeling very safe letting the confused boy take over the controls here. _"You really will be the death of me, Lucas…"_

"Hey, this isn't so bad! I just have to… check what each button or switch does, it'll be easy once I figure that out." Lucas said, sounding a little unsure himself.

The boy moved the switch a little bit, "O-okay, so this switch made it go… I guess it depends on how far it's pulled with how fast it goes." The vehicle began moving a bit more slowly. "See, this isn't so bad Boney. We'll find Claus in no time! All we gotta do is follow where the tunnel leads."

" _Um…"_ Boney and Lucas both stopped when they saw there were several diverting roads up ahead. _"Right… which tunnel leads to the base that Claus always goes to?"_

"I-I don't know… there are too many choices!" Lucas bit his lip as he looked back down at the controls. "Maybe there's something here that can show us? Like a map or something?" Lucas pushed a few buttons and the vehicle began moving up and down. "O-okay that's not it… maybe this one?" This caused the ball to suddenly began gyroiding around.

" _Lucaaaaas!"_ Boney howled as the two rolled and flipped around in the vehicle. _"Make this STOOOOP!"_

"I-I'm trying!" Lucas called back frantically. Unfortunately… it isn't exactly easy to grab for a button when you're being propelled and rolled around in the air. Both Lucas and Boney continued to roll around within the vehicle, not being able to stop themselves.

They felt something begin shaking as if the vehicle hit something hard. Then alarms began blaring inside as a computer voice spoke up. "WARNING! YOUR VEHICLE IS OUT OF CONTROL! WARNING! MUST EJECT IMMEDIATELY! WARNING! CRASH IS IMMINENT!"

" _WE'RE GONNA DIE!"_ Boney howled loudly as he and Lucas grabbed each other.

Lucas shut his eyes as he created a shield around them as the vehicle kept spinning out of control until… CRASH! Lucas found himself flipping in the air and hit the ground along with something brown beside him, which he assumed to be Boney, and the two were rolling a bit before they finally stopped in something… soft yet firm.

"Ow…" Lucas groaned as he held his spinning head.

" _That is IT! No more driving for you!"_ The boy heard Boney whimpering from beside him. The shield help kept them from getting hurt in the crash, but it didn't stop them from feeling sick with all the flips and spinning.

"Sorry Boney…" Lucas groaned as he tried to get his head together after the crash and tried to see where they are. "Where did we end up?"

" _We're… somewhere outside I've gathered… and… I smell the strong scent of clay."_ Boney barked.

* * *

Lucas blinked his eyes as his mind adjusted from that crazy crash, and he could see he and Boney have landed in mashed clay, most likely made for future Claymen. The boy looked over at a building not too far from them, and a few Pigmasks were talking among each other. "Did we come to the right place?"

" _I don't know. I can't smell Claus's scent anymore."_ Boney whined.

"Well… maybe all this clay is making it hard for you to smell him." Lucas suggested. "I mean there are Pigmasks here, so maybe this is their base. I've never really explored too much outside of Tazmily before other than that time we went to the factory and Club Titiboo… so I guess this is as good as place as any to look."

Lucas and Boney stood up and began wiping the clay off them, but it only caused it to smidge. Lucas frowned, he liked being clean and now his shirt is ruined. "It's going to take days to get this stuff out of my shirt…"

" _So how are we going to get in if this is their base? I don't think they'll just let anyone in, least of all a little kid and his dog. Heck we had a hard time just entering that stupid club!"_ Boney grumbled as he tried to scrub his fur with his paw.

"Maybe if we ask real nicely-" Lucas began to say when Boney cut him off.

" _That isn't going to work with well-trained soldiers!"_ The dog huffed.

"Then we'll just ask if Claus is here." Lucas sighed.

" _He's the waterboy to them! I doubt they even know his name!"_ The dog said with a roll of his eyes.

"You are just too negative." Lucas sighed as the two approached the three Pigmasks chatting.

"That hook is for bags and umbrellas, not your mask!" One of them argued.

"Oh, I thought it was for masks, no wonder it was so hard to hang mine there." Another said.

Then one of them noticed Lucas and Boney walking up, "Hey, who are you? What are you doing here? Don't you know it's way past your bedtime, kid?"

"I-I know… but I came here to find someone." Lucas said as he walked closer.

Suddenly one of the Pigmasks jumped and looked nervous. "A-ah, h-he's...!"

The Pigmask suddenly ran to the other side of the wall and the other two jumped and began saluting. Lucas and Boney both blinked and looked at them in confusion.

"C-Commander sir! W-we weren't expecting you until morning!" One of the Pigmasks said nervously and with as much respect as possible, which felt odd for Lucas.

"What…?" _Did he just call me… 'Commander'?_ Lucas thought to himself in confusion.

" _Wait, these guys thinks you're their Commander? … They do know you're only a 13 year old kid, right?"_ Boney was just as confused as Lucas was.

A blue Pigmask came out of the door and said, "What's all the ruckus?" then he noticed Lucas and the lower Pigmasks' behavior. "... O-oh! Commander sir! I thought you'd be asleep right now…" Then he studied Lucas's hair and messy clothes. "I love what you did with your hair, sir, the blond looks good on you. But you really shouldn't wear such a shabby and messy outfit, it'll set a bad example with the soldiers."

"Uh…?" Lucas was still confused on how they could think he's their Commander. He's only seen the Commander himself a few times and they did appear to be the same size, but apparently that face hidden under the helmet looked very similar to his own, which must've been awkward for Claus since he works for the Commander.

"Come on now, you better get yourself cleaned up. We have your spare uniforms in the back just in case you'd needed it." The blue Pigmask said to him.

"O-oh, right, uh thanks." Lucas said, trying not to sound too awkward.

"Come with me, young Commander. I guess they sent you here due to the malfunction at Thunder Tower, so let's not delay." The blue Pigmask said as he gestured Lucas to follow him.

" _Um, you're just going to go along with this?"_ Boney asked as he followed Lucas, who's following the blue Pigmask.

"Well if they think I'm their Commander maybe they can lead me to where Claus is." Lucas whispered to the dog.

" _And what will you do if we run into the real Commander?"_ Boney asked.

"We'll worry about that if we come to it." Lucas whispered back.

"Commander… normally you don't bring your pet with you, but I guess it's not that big of a deal. I'm just surprised really." The blue Pigmask said as he lead them through the place, which looked like another Clayman factory to Lucas.

Soon they were lead to a door and the blue Pigmask open it for him. "Here is the changing room sir, you can take a shower or bathe in a hot spring if that's more your style. Just be sure to change into your uniform so you can do what you need to do, Commander. And be sure to give a mask to your pet at least, so the soldiers don't mistake him for a lost stray."

"Okay, thank you, this will do just fine." Lucas said with a smile.

"You're always so polite Commander." The blue Pigmask spoke with a pleasant tone.

* * *

And with that, Lucas and Boney walked into the changing room, where it was much roomier than he expected it to be. Boney walked over to a small pool filled with nice hot water and dipped himself into it. _"Ahhhh, I'm so glad they have a hot spring here."_

Lucas chuckled as he walked over and slipped in himself. "I guess it couldn't hurt to relax a bit and wash off the clay. But let's not take too long… I don't want the real Commander to find out I've been impersonating him, and we still need to find Claus."

" _Yeah, yeah, but let's just relax now."_ The dog gave a small but satisfying whine.

After about 15 minutes, Lucas decided it was long enough, he didn't have a lot of time to relax. He got out of the hot spring pool and looked around for the uniform the blue Pigmask kept telling him to wear. "Ah… this must be it."

The 13 year old boy took out a familiar looking black zipper jacket with faux fur at the collar, orange pants, a black belt with a golden buckle, gray gloves and black boots. Lucas put it over his clothes and looked at himself in the mirror. "You know… it's scary how much like the Commander I look in this. All that's missing is the helmet and that weird box thing he has on his back."

Boney wagged his tail as he looked at Lucas. _"I personally think you look more professional in that, maybe you should keep it."_

"No Boney, this is temporary until we can find Claus." Lucas lightly scolded. "Maybe if they think I'm the Commander they'll let me in their base."

" _Will they let a dog in too?"_ Boney asked.

"Hmm… well that blue Pigmask did say you should wear a mask." Lucas said as he picked up a small yellow Pigmask mask, though he had never seen a yellow Pigmask, renegade or not.

When Lucas put the yellow mask over Boney's face, the dog began to whimper and whine. _"Ugh! It stinks in here! How do these guys breathe out of these things!?"_

"Just try to get used to it, Boney. We're going to need them to think we're one of them if we hope to find my brother, okay?" Lucas said as Boney just grumbled. "Okay, now let's see if we can find someone to help us."

The two of them walked around the factory, letting Lucas examine where exactly they were. There were a lot of those large-walking clay figures - Clayman, he thinks they were called - walking around. "This _does_ look like another one of those Clayman factories like the one near the train tracks…"

Boney whimpered when Lucas referenced that. _"That place? They're not gonna make me run in another wheel for hours, are they? I just wanted to sleep by the time they finally let me out!"_

Lucas rolled his eyes. "I think you'll be fine, Boney. Maybe because they think I'm the commander they'll let you stay with me. But if this is just another factory… I don't know if Claus might be here or wherever the Pigmask's base really is…"

" _Well since you're the supposed commander here, why not just ask one of these guys to take you to the base?"_ Boney asked him.

"Because they'll find it suspicious that I would want to go back there, especially since I just apparently got here. That blue Pigmask said something was going on at… Thunder Tower?" Lucas had no idea what the heck that was, but he's guessing that might be where the real commander is. "Which means we should probably stay away from that place and try to find Claus on our own."

" _Uh-huh, and how will we do that? You can't drive, you'll just make us crash again."_ The dog groaned as he remembered that crash.

"I think I could figure it out…" Lucas said and Boney looked like he was about to retort to that when they accidentally bumped into a Pigmask. "Oof! O-oh, I'm so sorry about that! I was distracted!"

The Pigmask was looking at Lucas before he said, "... L-Lucas? _You're_ the Pigmask Commander!?"

Lucas wasn't sure how to react, he thought the voice sounded familiar, but… "O-oh, well I- … I-I mean," Lucas cleared his throat and tried to sound a little gruff, "y-yes, this is the Commander speaking to you… I-is there something you need?"

"... Could you follow me then… _Commander_?" the Pigmask said, walking off towards an area that didn't have many Pigmasks in it. Lucas looked back at Boney nervously.

" _He smells familiar…. Like someone that's been with you only a few times."_ Boney just replied, looking at the Pigmask too.

* * *

When the Pigmask lead them to a corner, he looked around before taking off his mask. Lucas's eyes widen and he smiled when he saw the familiar face. "Duster! … Wait, Duster? _You're_ working for the Pigmasks too?"

"... So I'm going to take it that you're not really the Commander, right?" Duster asked Lucas, sounding cautious.

"... Uh… that depends…" Lucas said, being cautious himself. "What are you doing here, Duster?"

Duster checked again to make sure no one was looking, before whispering to Lucas, "I'm here spying on the Pigmasks, like what I did back at Club Titiboo. But… I'd like to know what _you're_ doing here, I don't want to think you've been the Commander this entire time."

"N-no, that's not it!" Lucas quickly said. He looked around seeing a Pigmask was a little close to the three of them, but he didn't seem to notice. The boy turned back to Duster. "These Pigmasks thought I was their Commander or something… I don't know why, but it works for me since I want to be able to find Claus disguised as the Commander. He just disappeared in the middle of the night…" he explained, frowning. "I'm worried about what might've happened to him."

"Ah, well that's a relief." Duster said. "Oh, not that your brother disappeared, it's just a relief to know you're not actually the Commander. Kumatora would probably kill you." he gave a nervous chuckle as did Lucas.

"Y-yeah…" Lucas cleared his throat. "Oh hey, Duster, do you know how to drive those weird, pig ball driving things?"

"They showed me the basics on how to drive it when I was in disguise, why?" Duster asked.

"I want to use it to help find Claus. Maybe you could lead us to their base!" Lucas smiled.

"I wish I could, but I don't even know where their base is." Duster sighed. "I've only been in disguise for a week but they never let us leave here."

"Oh… well then can you just drive us around? We're bound to find their base or at least Claus sooner or later, right?" Lucas suggested as Boney just sat there quietly.

"Well… I guess I could drive around this area, as long as I don't go out too far…" Duster said. He still sounded a little unsure and scratched his head.

"Great! Sooo… how can we get you to leave?" Lucas asked, for a moment letting the current position he was in slip from his mind. Duster glanced at the uniform adorned on Lucas's body.

Boney was just sticking his masked nose on Lucas's outfit and gave a small huff before Lucas blinked at them and looked down at his outfit before a light bulb went off in his brain. "O-oh… right, I'm the Commander."

"Just act like you belong here and say you need me to escort you to Thunder Tower or something and we should be good to go." Duster said as he put his pig helmet back on over his head.

"O-okay… that shouldn't be too hard to do… let's find that pig driving thing." Lucas said nervously.

"Actually Lucas, it's called a 'Pork Bean'." Duster corrected.

"... Oh… that's an interesting name." Lucas said before shaking his head. "Do you know where we can get one?"

"Yeah, they mostly keep them parked near the back of the factory since the highway is out there and it'd be _crazy_ to walk everywhere." Duster told him.

" _Just as long as it's being driven by someone who knows what they're doing, I'm fine with it. If it's just Lucas again I rather walk."_ Boney commented even though Duster couldn't understand him.

"H-hey! I'm sure I could've figured it out, Boney." Lucas frowned.

"What happened before?" Duster asked.

"I… uh… crashed a Pork Bean." Lucas admitted, blushing from embarrassment.

Duster tried hard to hide a chuckle. "Well I guess it's complicated if you don't know anything about a standard vehicle."

"Hey, where are you going?" A blue Pigmask asked.

"Oh Captain sir, the Commander here is asking me to escort him to Thunder Tower and see what the problem is." Duster quickly said as he saluted.

"Oh, if the Commander says so then carry on." The blue Pigmask said as he walked off with no problem.

"Wow… I guess I never knew how much of a rank a Commander really was." Lucas said as they continued walking.

"Well by Pigmask standards, each color have its own rank. Pink being the lowest. Yellows are- strangely enough- reserve for animals or rather pets to a Pigmask." Duster explained.

"Oh, that's why I never saw a yellow Pigmask before." Lucas said with a nod.

Duster continued his explanation. "A blue Pigmask is a higher rank than pink, they are the Captain rank. Then it goes to green, where they are of the Major rank. And the more rare are the white Pigmasks, they are of the Colonel rank. After them would be the black and orange Commander rank, and I guess anyone higher would be the main Master of them all."

"Wow. I never knew the color had their own ranks." Lucas said as he looked around the factory, seeing mostly the pink Pigmasks and the Pigmask Captains here.

Duster soon lead the boy and the dog outside where they saw a few Pork Beans. "Ah, here we are. We'll just take one of the Pork Beans and look around for your brother for a bit."

"Alright, hopefully it shouldn't take too long." Lucas said as he looked up at the night sky. "I wonder if he's tired? We've never stayed up _this_ late at night before."

"The night is still somewhat young, so we've got time to search for him." Duster said as he pushed a button outside and a door slide open. "After you, 'Commander'."

Lucas gave a humor chuckle as he stepped into the Pork Bean and Boney soon followed him. When Duster sat down at the controls, he pushed a button to shut the door. "Alright, have a seat you two, I'll start driving."

" _Please don't crash this thing!"_ Boney barked.

"I hope you'll have better luck at driving it than I did." Lucas chuckled sheepishly.

"Don't worry Lucas, Boney, I've driven a few of these things before." Duster reassured them as he pushed another button and the Pork Bean began to levitate. "Here we go!" He pulled a switch and the Pork Bean took off down the street.

Lucas and Boney watched as Duster controlled the Pork Bean rather clunky, but at least they weren't in any danger of crashing or gyrolling all over the place. The boy decided to look out the window to see the outside, and he was rather surprised to see how big and diverse the place was.

Duster moved across the roads and through tunnels. Out of each tunnel was more road and rocks. If Lucas could see this place in the sun he'll bet that it'd look like a canyon. Duster drove the Pork Bean through a station before stopping. "People like to gossip around here, so you can try asking about Claus while you're here, maybe you'll hear something."

Lucas nodded as he said, "Good idea, there's bound to be a Pigmask that knows where Claus is!"

" _And if he's in the base that we have yet to find?"_ Boney asked.

Lucas paused before he said, "Then… we can find a way to ask them where the base is without seeming suspicious… somehow."

* * *

Boney sighed as he followed the 'Commander' out of the Pork Bean. Duster put it in park before coming out with them. "Just be careful who you ask, some of them may personally know the real Commander, most likely the higher ranks like Majors or Colonels.."

"Guess we better be extra careful then." Lucas said as they walked towards the station, where people were waiting in a long line for a bathroom and some guy was out selling hot dogs… in the middle of the _night_.

Walking inside the building, Lucas almost choked at how dirty it was in here and he's sure a lot of people who smoked hung around here, it was rather suffocating. Lucas wondered how Boney and Duster were handling this so well, but he figured maybe it's the masks they're wearing. The place was indeed a big mess, yet there were a lot of people and Pigmasks hanging out here.

Most of the Pigmaks were pink and Captain rank, so it might be safe to interact with them. Lucas approached one of them and said, "Do you know where a boy named Claus is?"

The one who responded was a regular, low-ranking Pigmask. He didn't seem to recognize that the "Commander" was asking him a question at first. Maybe he was having too much fun with his buddies in this place to comprehend it. "... Claus? Why would _I_ know about some... _brat_ named that 'round here? … He a friend of yourz…?" He also sounded slightly tipsy, and Lucas felt a little uncomfortable.

Luckily for him, the Captain that was next to the low-ranking Pigmask slugged him. "Hey! That's the _Commander_ you're talking to!" the Captain said in a harsh whisper.

"Whazzat? The Commander?" The Pigmask just sounded confused. "Why'z he so small though?"

"Please forgive him, Commander. He's had… way too many drinks." The Pigmask Captain squealed before he saluted. "May I ask why are you searching for this boy named Claus, sir?"

"He's… someone I need to talk to, but I'm having trouble finding him." Lucas said. "You should at least know him, he kinda looks like me with ginger hair and he's apparently the uh… waterboy?"

"Waterboy?" the Captain said. Through the tone of his voice alone, Lucas could tell that the Captain had a frown under that mask. He turned to his buddy. "Hey, do you remember anything about a ginger-haired waterboy in the army?"

"... Waterboy?" the pink Pigmask said, his head slightly looped and tilted. "... _Well_ , I certainly don't knows about no waterboy, but I _am_ thirsty! Another drink here!"

The low-ranked Pigmask raised an empty glass high for another drink, and the Captain facepalmed at the response. "Idiot… I'm sorry again, sir, but it doesn't seem like we remember any individual with that description."

Lucas frowned at that. "Okay… uh… maybe you could tell… this newbie here where the base is." he pointed at Duster beside him. "We need to get there and we seem to be lost."

" _Uh Lucas, are you sure the Commander would even say that?"_ Boney asked nervously.

"Hmm? … Well I'll admit these Highways can get a little confusing, but don't you usually have that fancy helmet that tells you which way to go?" The Pigmask Captain asked. "Speaking of which, I rarely ever see you without it sir."

"O-oh, right, the helmet… it's uh… being upgraded right now… so I'm not wearing it tonight." Lucas said, trying not to sound nervous.

"And... at any case, shouldn't you be at the Thunder Tower place?" The pink Pigmask said. "I've heard you were supposed to go check it out… or something." he gave a hiccup.

"Y-yeah, but I need to pick up something at the base." Lucas said after some hesitation.

The Captain didn't respond for a few moments, and Lucas tried not to look too nervous. He hoped the Captain wasn't too suspicious of his intentions. After a while though, the Captain just seemed to shrug it off. "Ah, well, I suppose it would be an honor to help you, Commander. So you want me to tell this Pigmask directions to the base?"

"Oh! Y-yes please, that would be great!" Lucas said quickly, mentally letting out a sigh of relief. He hoped to get out of here quickly and find Claus without raising too much suspicion… and to get out of this horrid building in the first place.

However, before the Pigmask could give Duster the direction he needed, there was a sudden loud screech outside, and people outside began screaming in panic and running out of the road.

"H-huh? What's going on out there?" Lucas frowned.

The Pigmask Captain began squealing. "Oh not again! That stupid malfunctioned Clayman been a big pain since it mutated with all the trash!"

"A Clayman's terrorizing people?" Lucas frowned.

"I've heard about a Clayman that was put into the dump, yet it somehow mutated into a trash monster and is terrorizing people!" The Pigmask Captain grumbled. "Shall we send in the Pork Tanks to deal with the problem? It's getting out of hand."

"And it's a strong one." The other Pigmask said. "Heck I'd be surprised if we could even take it out, it destroyed one of our tanks before. Why not let our big strong Commander handle it, hmm?"

"I said stop being rude to him! You want to lose your job!?" The Pigmask Captain snapped angrily at the tipsy Pigmask.

"What? If he's so strong and great like everyone says he is then he should have no problem using his fancy psychic arm cannon or electric sword to take it out." The Pigmask grumbled with a hiccup.

Lucas, Boney and Duster were all sweating nervously, especially Lucas since he didn't have an arm cannon nor a sword that can discharge electricity, if he were to go out there and fight that thing he'd be exposed for sure.

"U-uh… w-well I uh…" Lucas gulped.

"I'm really sorry about his attitude Commander. I assure you we will set him straight once we get him back to base." The Pigmask Captain said as he bowed over and over again. "But it would be nice to have you destroy that troublesome mutated Clayman so it'd stop terrorizing everyone."

"Err…" Lucas didn't know what to do, he certainly wasn't expecting to take care of some mutated Clayman monster all of a sudden like this, especially in front of these Pigmasks who knew the Commander's weapons and fighting style apparently.

"The Commander's cannon isn't working so well today and he left his sword in the base, that's why he was going back there to pick it up and get his cannon checked out." Duster quickly said, coming up with an excuse.

"Hmph, some professional Commander _you_ are." The tipsy Pigmask complained.

"Quiet you!" the Pigmask Captain snapped at the Pigmask. "W-well… uh… are you sure you can't do anything, Commander? That Clayman- or what we call it as now; Forlorn Junk Heap is quite dangerous."

Lucas was about to say something when he saw said Clayman outside the window, it looked like a tired Clayman being all deformed, but its almost like it became a chimera itself. It had broken gadgets for its arms and made it look rather scary. The Forlorn Junk Heap was moving slowly and throwing pieces of sharp metal at people. Some of them managed to get away, but some weren't as fortunate as the metal slash through their arms or legs and leaving them on the ground in pain.

Lucas frowned at this, he couldn't just let those people get hurt because of that thing. "Well… I may not have any of my weapons with me, but I can still fight." Lucas said.

"Well since you don't have your sword, Commander, use this to compensate." The Pigmask Captain said as he held out a very solid looking stick- no, Lucas knew this was no mere stick, it was a bat. It's great for a fast physical attack. "I uh… kinda had to take my trainee here out to a ball game since he was having a bad day and bought a nice bat there, but since he was so rude to you, Commander, you can have it instead."

"Not cool man! I wanted to keep that bat!" The tipsy Pigmask snapped.

"You WILL show the Commander respect!" The Pigmask Captain snapped.

"Thank you." Lucas said as he took the bat. "This should help me against that monster out there."

"I will help the Commander fight." Duster spoke up from behind Lucas. "After all I am his escort."

Boney just barked and stood beside Lucas, indicating he'll help him too. Lucas smiled at them, "Thanks guys. Now come on, let's go stop that thing out there!"

* * *

Lucas, Duster and Boney ran outside to confront the Forlorn Junk Heap, while the Pigmask Captain frowned at the tipsy Pigmask. "Why can't you be more like them?"

Lucas saw the Forlorn Junk Heap throwing more of those sharp metal objects around, he quickly raised his hand. "Shield!"

The boy jumped in front of Duster and Boney as he let his barrier take the metal objects for them, bouncing off and falling to the ground. The Forlorn Junk Heap took notice of this and began making its way towards the three.

Duster and Boney both charged at the Forlorn Junk Heap, they were both pretty fast as Duster swung his leg and kicked the Forlorn Junk Heap hard against its clay-like feet while Boney opened his mouth and began chewing on its trashed-made arm, trying to rip it off. While the mutated Clayman was trying to shake Boney off it, Duster kept throwing it off balance by kicking at its feet. Lucas took this time to get in closer himself and pointed his finger onto its chest before releasing a small but deadly portion of his PK Love into the finger, which made a mini hexagonal explosion causing the Forlorn Junk Heap to be sent back a few good feet away.

The Forlorn Junk Heap gave a loud, throat scratching cry as it began eating the metal things its been throwing, starting to recover from their attacks.

"I think I'm going to be sick… it's healing itself by eating _trash_." Lucas frowned as he tried to fight the bile that threatened to come up throat.

"No time to get sick Lucas, we need to attack it fast before it eats more trash and gets more ammo at us." Duster said as he rushed at the mutated Clayman.

" _I'm all for chewing stuff people throw out, but that is just too much."_ Boney groaned.

Duster took out a small ball-like object from his pocket and threw it at the Forlorn Junk Heap. As soon as the ball-like object hit the mutated Clayman black thick smoke covered its face, causing it to have trouble seeing before Boney took this opportunity to run and tackle it as hard as he Forlorn Junk Heap gave a low moan as it fell back a bit.

Lucas jumped over the Forlorn Junk Heap before using some of his PK Love into his feet as he kicked it hard, the PK Love in his feet made small hexagonal psychic energy and stuffed the mutated Clayman into the ground.

Unfortunately it wasn't over yet, the Forlorn Junk Heap slowly stood back up as Lucas jumped off it. "This thing is really bulky!" He charged at it again, this time swinging the bat the Pigmask Captain gave him.

The bat left a rather big dent in the Forlorn's waist and Lucas swung his weapon again, hitting it in the face, leaving an even more distorted face than before. Boney joined in as he bit and chewed on its arms again while Lucas kept swinging his bat at the junk heap monster.

"Look out!" Duster yelled when the chimera-like Clayman began grabbing and throwing even bigger metal objects at them, having had enough of being abused by the boy and his dog.

The metal objects were much bigger and heavier than last time, it was strong enough to break Lucas's shield and nearly crushed him and Boney as they were much smaller than the things that were being thrown, they couldn't avoid it as they were too close to the Clayman and they gave a yelp of pain as they were pinned to the ground by the heavy objects. Duster managed to avoid being hit, but now Lucas and Boney were vulnerable. Thinking fast, the thief-in-disguise took out his infamous Wall Staples and he shot out the staples at the trash monster to try and pin it down or at least slow it down.

The Forlorn Junk Heap gave a low moan as it absorbed the metal stables into its clay body and Duster groaned, realizing he had only helped heal the monster rather than slowing it down. Then to his horror he could see it was holding a particularly sharp butcher knife and was aiming at Lucas, who was still trying to get out of the heavy hunk of metal that had him pinned down.

"Lucas! Get out of there!" Duster yelled as he started running at the mutated Clayman to try and stop it.

Lucas gasped when he saw the Forlorn Junk Heap holding such a dangerous weapon in its trash-like hands, and threw the big butcher knife right at him. Lucas gasped as he knew there was no time for him to put up a shield or get out of the way, all he could do was watch, frozen as if time slowed down. Lucas heard Boney screaming out for him as he shut his eyes and prepared for the worst… that is… until something strange happened.

When Lucas didn't feel his head being sliced in half by the butcher knife, he dared to open his eyes and saw probably what was the most confusing thing he ever saw in his life… everything around him was going _backwards_. The knife flipped back to the Junk Heap's trash-like hands, Duster was running backwards, Boney was charging backwards, the metal stuff all suddenly came back to the Junk Heap, even the Clayman itself was eating in reverse, which was somehow even _more_ sickening to Lucas than watching it eat the trash! The boy still couldn't believe what was happening around him… until he was suddenly back inside the building, just getting the bat from the Pigmask Captain as if that fight he just had with the Clayman never even happened. All Lucas could do was blink as the Pigmask Captain was complaining at the tipsy Pigmask.

* * *

 _What just… happened?_ Lucas thought to himself, confused as he looked at Duster and Boney, neither of them seemed to be in shock at what just happened.

"Come on Commander, we better hurry." Duster said as he pushed the 'Commander' out the door.

Lucas looked at the Forlorn Junk Heap in confusion before turning back to Duster and Boney. "W-wait, didn't I die or get severely injured? I was about to get sliced by a butcher knife!"

" _What? Where did THAT come from Lucas? You just took a bat and now suddenly you're scared of some meat knife?"_ Boney barked in confusion.

"B-but we were just fighting it!" Lucas argued, still confused.

"Watch out!" Duster yelp as the mutated Clayman began throwing sharp metal objects at them.

Lucas and Boney scrambled away to dodge the incoming projectiles, though the boy was still trying to figure out what had happened. It seemed to him that he somehow went back in time just before the fight.

Before Lucas could do anything else, however, there was a sudden loud high pitch noise that came out of nowhere, and Kumatora herself just materialized from thin air and slowing down from what appeared to be an incredibly fast run.

"Lucas!" She yelled before stopping right in front of the Forlorn Junk Heap and shoved her hands onto its clay body. "PK Fire beta!" The flames began consuming the mutated Clayman as its metal junk parts and the clay itself began to melt.

 _Wait, she didn't come last time. What's going on?_ Lucas thought in even more confusion. "K-Kumatora? W-what are you doing here?" Though he was relieved to see all it took was fire to burn the junk heap away. _Maybe I should learn some of her offensive PSI moves one day…_

Kumatora walked over to Lucas and looked at the uniform he was wearing. "Okay, first of all… _what_ are you wearing?"

"O-oh this is just a disguise!" Lucas quickly said, not wanting her to get the wrong idea. "Duster and Boney were helping me find my brother… he kinda disappeared on me again."

Duster took off the Pigmask's mask off his head and said, "How did you even get here?"

" _That was pretty cool how she just came out of nowhere and barbecued that giant trash heap of a Clayman!"_ Boney barked as he wagged his tail.

"I used an old PSI of mine. I don't like using it too often because of its requirements, but I use it in emergencies. It's called PK Teleport, as its name describes I can teleport, but there are limits. I can only teleport to a place I've been to or are familiar with it, and I have to run in a straight line and go faster and faster as my PSI takes over, but if I run into something let's just say it hurts like hel- you get the point." She grumbled. "I don't use it too often, but I had to because someone used a save frog… Aeolia and I were worried Lucas might've been in trouble and she wanted me to take him back to her anyways for something really important."

"How did you know I would be here?" Lucas asked.

"I felt your PSI, Lucas. I decided to just wait until you came back to Tazmily, but since the save frog was used I was worried you got in trouble and used PSI Teleport to make sure you're okay." Kumatora explained.

"What's a save frog?" Lucas asked.

"Wait… you've never spoken to a frog before? Even after all this time?" Kumatora asked, surprised. "And it wasn't you who used it?"

"Uh… I never thought it was necessary to talk to a frog before." Lucas said, sounding unsure. "Wait... did it have something to do with why time suddenly went back?"

Duster, the only other human here who only had a slight idea of what the two PSI users were talking about, decided to question the most pressing matter. "Time went back?" he asked.

Kumatora nodded her head, deciding to explain to both Lucas and Duster of what had just happened earlier. "Yeah. Only those with PSI can remember what happened before a save frog saves someone's life by rewinding time. They form a connection with the person who can hear them and uses that connection to save their life if they die, but they can only do it once per person. None of us really knows how they do it, but it works. And it's also kind of why everyone think most people with psychic powers can see the future, even though that is not a common PSI ability to have. But if Lucas here didn't use a save frog, then who did?"

"It could've been the Commander." Lucas suggested. "He's the only other person we know who can use PSI on this entire island… you know, besides the Magypsies and they're kinda immortal. Something terrible must've happened at Thunder Tower if a save frog had to rewind time to save him." Though the boy wouldn't admit that the save frog did technically save his own life too.

"Well it's a good thing you came then, Kumatora. I don't think that junk heap would've been an easy fight for us." Duster said to her.

"It's just a bunch of trash and clay, so fire is usually a good thing to use to melt all that." Kumatora shrugged. "But anyways, Lucas, there's something important you need to know. Ionia and Aeolia talked about this earlier, and they said… it's time. It's time for you… to start pulling the seven Needles."

Lucas looked at her and frowned, he had known about the Dark Dragon's legend after Ionia talked to him about it a few months back, and he had been trying to mentally prepare himself for it but he was hoping it'd be years until it was time to pull the Needles as he wanted to spend more time in Tazmily, with his family, with Kumatora and Duster, and even with his mentors the Magypsies that taught him everything he knew. "Already? But I just turned 13 years old…"

"I know Lucas, but they insist it's time now." Kumatora said sadly. "I don't want them to disappear either, they raised me when I was little, they're practically family to me… but you and I both knew this was to happen at some point."

Lucas only solemnly nodded his head. "I just wish it wasn't so soon…"

"Well… take my hand, I'll use PK Teleport to get us back to Aeolia's house and she'll explain everything." Kumatora said as she held out her hand.

" _Um… can we take off these ridiculous disguises now? Well Lucas looks pretty good in that get up, but still it'd be nice if I could breathe without this stupid thing over my face!"_ Boney barked.

"Oh right… I guess we should return these." Lucas said as he unzipped the jacket, revealing his red and yellow striped shirt underneath.

"There's no time, just leave it off to the side somewhere." Kumatora said impatiently. "Aeolia's hoping you pull her Needle by the time the morning sun rises."

"But that's littering." Lucas frowned as he took off the uniform. Duster and Boney were taking off theirs as well, both looking rather relieved to be back in their own clothing… well for Duster. Boney was just glad to have his face free. "Oh alright, if we're _that_ pressed for time…"

"All of you take hands." Kumatora said. "We want to be linked when we teleport."

Duster took Kumatora's hand while Lucas took Duster's and the boy held onto Boney. "Alright, hang on tight." She said before she began running down the road at the same time the morning sun began to slowly rise into the dark sky. Lucas was rather surprised at how fast they were going since no average human could ever run this fast. They kept going faster and faster, and as they picked up speed, Lucas could hear a high pitched sound that got louder and louder the faster they went.

* * *

Soon, just when the high pitched noise began to get unbearable, Lucas felt Duster and Boney beginning to feel like water as their bodies were de-materializing, and he gasped when he saw himself was de-materializing as well and everything around him was nothing but a blur.

Before Lucas could dwell on the fact his body didn't exist anymore, Duster and Boney suddenly became solid again, and his body returned as well and they were slowing down- much to his relief. Kumatora soon stopped them in front of a familiar pink shelled house. "We're here- oh dear." She said in concern when she noticed her passengers suddenly fell to their hands and knees, looking very sick. "I'm sorry! I forgot first timers would get very sick! Just ride it out, it'll pass."

 _Ugh… that… ugh… I felt like my stomach left my gut back there… I feel so horrible…_ Lucas groaned, struggling not to puke.

Boney was just whimpering and sat down very still while Duster was about the same as Lucas. Kumatora sighed and said, "I don't use PSI Teleport very often for this reason too…"

After a few minutes, Lucas was able to get back on his feet again, though Duster and Boney didn't look like they wanted to move any time soon. "L-let's just… talk to Aeolia. Boney, Duster, you guys stay here and try to recover."

Kumatora nodded as she lead the boy into the house. "Aeolia, I've brought him."

"Oh Lucas! My have you grown, it's like I just blinked and you went from that small boy who had PSI Fever into this cute teenager, ready to pull my Needle~." 'She' said with a big smile.

"A-are you sure it's really time for me to pull the Needles now?" Lucas asked, frowning a bit, forgetting his motion sickness from earlier. "I mean… I was hoping that the 'time' wouldn't be until years later… I've only just turned 13 years old."

"Yes I know, darling~ But the time has already come, dear Lucas." Aeolia said. "The Dark Dragon must be awakened soon and it's your job to pull the Needles to do so."

"But why now? Why does it have to be now?" Lucas asked, dreading that he'll have to say goodbye to Aeolia very soon, and most likely his family for a long time. _I hope Claus comes home safely..._

"Let's just say an old friend of ours paid us a visit last night. He said that the time has come, when the morning sun rises the first of the seven Needles must be pulled, and darling that is now." Aeolia said. "So I'll lead you through the secret route to my Needle, okay~?"

"I-I… I don't know if I can do it…" Lucas frowned as he looked at the first Magypsy he ever met. "I mean… doing so means you'll… you'll disappear…"

"That is true, once the Needle is gone I will go too." Aeolia admitted. "But this is a happy occasion, not a sad one~ I know it'll be hard to say goodbye, Lucas, but you know this is for the good of the world, right?"

The blond haired boy gave a solemn nod. "I guess I just… wish there was another way…"

"Ah, but there isn't any other way~ The world will never recover if the Dark Dragon doesn't wake up soon. Lucas darling I know you will bring the rebirth of the world along with the Dark Dragon~ Oh and if you can, maybe have that Commander help out since he too can use the legendary PK Love." Aeolia said as 'she' flipped a switch and a table moved, revealing a tunnel down below. "This will take you to the Needle at Osohe Castle, be sure to pull it with all your heart~."

Lucas looked sadly back at the Magypsy. "I guess… this is goodbye then…"

"Yes, and thank you. Kumatora can help you on your journey to pull the other six Needles." Aeolia said.

"W-we'll help too." Duster spoke up as he and Boney entered the house, having recovered from the motion sickness. "We want to help Lucas too."

" _I'm not going to let Lucas go without me, he needs my help, poor boy gets into a lot of trouble on his own."_ Boney barked.

"Ah, so lovely, a group of friends coming together for a common cause. There's nothing better than that~! Alright Lucas, everyone is behind you." Aeolia said cheerfully.

Lucas gave a nod before Kumatora gestured for him to follow her. She lead him, Duster and Boney down into the tunnel and lead them out into the Osohe Castle's courtyard. There Lucas could see the morning sun had risen higher into the sky and in front of him was a golden Needle with a dragon's head and wings on the tip, it had a radiant glow and he felt like something was calling out to him.

"So that's the Needle?" Duster asked.

"Yes, that's it." Kumatora confirmed as Lucas slowly approached it.

The boy didn't know why but he felt like something about the Needle was pulling him towards it. The closer he got, the warmer he felt, almost like when he and Claus hugged each other in his Magicant- it just felt right. When Lucas was within reach of the Needle, he could see its brilliant light radiating from the spire. The boy reached out and touched the Needle, and he felt like he was holding Claus's hand and his mother was hugging him, as if both of them were supporting him.

Lucas focused on his heart, feeling his PSI warming him, his PK Love slowly forming around his hands as he began to pull. The Needle's dragon winged tip came off as he pulled, a brilliant light began to shine on the Needle and Lucas. Soon the boy managed to pull it out of the ground. The light and the Needle disappeared as soon as he pulled it out, and for a long second there was a loud sound that indicated the Needle was pulled and a light flashed before everything grew dark. Then the entire world around them began trembling, and a beat was heard, it was almost like a heartbeat and the entire place trembled with each beat. Lucas stood there as if in a trance, while Kumatora, Duster and Boney were on the ground trying to ride out the trembles.

The world looked like it was changing colors as thick smoke came out of the hole where the Needle once was, and there was another bright flash of light before it was over. The trembles and heartbeats finally stopped, and all that was left of where the Needle once was, was a hole with purple mist-like substance bubbling out.

Lucas blinked out of his trance and looked up at the sky, seeing the morning sun had risen high already, filling the sky with its light.

 _And so with that morning sun… I had pulled the first of seven Needles. It felt right, and even though I didn't like the idea Aeolia will be gone now, I knew from then on what I had to do. It was time for me to go on a journey to find the six other Needles and reborn this world into what it used to be- maybe even into something better. Maybe I'll run into Claus and he can come with us to help out, that'd be nice._

* * *

 **So as a reminder in case you forgot by the time you got down here I will ask again; do you think the chapters should be this long and wait an extra week or should we split and shorten them? The parts would be shorter with these longer chapters, so keep that in mind. I am DarkFoxKit, my co-writer is Donfyre and we look forward to hearing from you!**


	22. Chapter 22: The Chimera Lab

**DarkFoxKit: *was eating some snicker bars* Hurry up Fyre! It's time to do the AN! Trick-or-Treating time is over!**

 **Donfyre: *pokes my head in view of the camera* Aww, but I'm not finished yet! Look at all this candy! *holds out three large buckets chock-full of candy* IT'S NOT ENOUGH!**

 **DarkFoxKit: You're going to get sick… or die if you eat that much! There's enough candy here to last us three Halloweens!**

 **Donfyre: Only three? I was aiming for seven this year! Just, uh… give me a few more hours! *tries running off until Fox pounced on him***

 **DarkFoxKit: *shoves him in a bubble* You're staying in there. We had a few votes you stay in a bubble anyways.**

 **Donfyre: WAH! Nooooo! DX *pushes against the inside of the impenetrable bubble* That was only one person giving multiple votes!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Exactly, nobody else voted so there. :3 Anyways, I'm keeping all this candy away from you until you can control yourself. For now, we need to address if we're going to split the chapters or keep them long. The reviews we got… they didn't actually vote, they just said both reasons were good, so we have no idea if we should split them or not. What's your suggestion candy boy?**

 **Donfyre: *is trembling from lack of sugar* Um… w-well, we definitely deserve a break if we post this huge chapter, and I don't think people will like waiting very much if we did that, sooo… I guess we could try splitting it and keep updating weekly. Y'know, everything in moderation. ^^; *is ironically still eyeing the large buckets of candy***

 **DarkFoxKit: Good boy. *throws him a chocolate bar in the bubble* Okay, since nobody actually voted I guess we'll have to decide. Splitting the longer chapters it is then!**

 **Donfyre: *has already completely nommed up the chocolate bar, wrapper and all* Sounds good to me! c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: … Yeah, I'm gonna have to take the wrappers off before you choke on them… anyways, time to answer the reviews. It's been a slow week, must be the parties and trick-or-treats slowing them down.**

 **Donfyre: That makes it a fuuuun week! *is looking at the candy hungrily***

 **DarkFoxKit: You'll get a candy for each review we answer! Ahem…**

 **Connor the speling pro: The criticism is fine, but don't forget to say something positive about the chapter too, otherwise we're going to think you just didn't like it. ^^' But thanks for saying we both have great potential. Anyways, yeah I know it's quite dangerous to use the rewind mechanic, hence why it's not used often in the story, but like I said; I wanted to show how I interpret the save frogs from in the game. And I figured that was the best time to use it.**

 **Yeah, show don't tell is usually what you want to do in a story. Though it's more for things that use animation since a written story can only really tell rather than show. ^^' Some things are just really hard to describe with words.**

 **Donfyre: Eh heh… that "show don't tell" thing might mostly be my fault. I think I have a habit of doing that when I think about it. Anyways, we can still try your suggestion and try using diction to conjure certain connotations that resonate with the readers rather than just telling them what's going on!**

 **Again, that's probably my fault. ^^; I do try to describe events, but it probably just comes off as being an entire sum-up of what's going on. But like I said before, we can try working on that!**

 **DarkFoxKit: I don't know if it looks like it's just been summarizing events or whatnot, but I did warn the reader I was doing that back at Chapter 1 before because sometimes I just want to get somewhere without seeming too rushed and that was the best way to go from my point of view. I do apologize though, that's no excuse for doing that. Fyre and I will try to improve.**

 **You know, you have a point about action scenes. I don't usually read them in fanfics because action is a lot better in animation rather than describing it with words. But it is a lot easier and probably better to just do it from the character's point of view so we don't have to juggle with everything else going on in the field and making it too chaotic. I'll be sure to keep that in mind for future reference.**

 **Again, criticism is welcome, but saying something positive before going off does help too.**

 **Donfyre: Moving on to your other review! Thanks for clarifying that one of our scenes wasn't all-out bad at least. ^^;**

 **Goooood that you like Lucas and Boney's conversations, Boney has great dialogue! c:**

 **Don't worry, I think you'll see we handled save frogs appropriately in a way that you'll see. XP And besides, there are still good things that use "time travel" mechanics really well! Like Undertale. :D**

 **Yep, it's time for us now to move onto the adventures for the Needles! Thanks again for clarifying some things with this other review. c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: You get a nice big lollipop for that one! *takes off the wrapper and throws it into the bubble* Now for the next review while Fyre's indulging himself in candy land.**

 **Shimo no ko: The irony? Which irony are you talking about? Because there's a lot. ^^' And yeah, the 'role reversals' are going to continue, so enjoy that. :) And poor Flint, his sons are ditching the guy. Never have psychic children, they'll become chosen ones to save the world and break your heart. T_T Yeah, Lucas and Claus are connected in more ways than one it seems, but it was a great way to show the save frog being used during that time.**

 **Donfyre: *has already finished eating the lollipop, including the little stick that holds it* I guess you can see that about Claus's worries. Not only does he have to worry about his identity, but he DOES still have a ton of other things to keep track of. XP And oh… so you were someone who voted shorter and faster updates! Weeell… your wish has been granted! ^^; And don't worry, I is impatient too. Thanks for the review!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Here's a nice, big Butterfinger bar for ya! *takes off the wrapper and throws it into the bubble* Now our next reviewer…**

 **FanofFiction123: Hahaha! XD Yup, that's the whole point; tease the readers that Lucas would go to Thunder Tower and meet the real Commander, only for him to say "Nope, not going there! Too busy looking for Claus!" Ironically that IS where Claus is at that point in time. XD**

 **Heh, I figured the Captain saying that about Lucas's hair would be a nice touch, and a reason why they didn't instantly recognize their Commander doesn't have that kind of hair.**

 **Well we decided to go with shorter chapter and updating every week. That should be good for ya.**

 **Okay, looks like that's all the reviews we had… wow, they're long but not a lot reviewed this time.**

 **Donfyre: *is savoring the chocolate bar* …. Huh? Oh! You already finished. ^^; Then again…. I guess it is because of the fact that we didn't really have many reviews for this chapter.**

 **DarkFoxKit: And that's a darn shame since it's one of our longest chapter. *grumbles* Oh well, maybe this next one will get more, hopefully. ^^' At least you guys won't be too busy with Halloween parties anymore. *tosses some jolly ranchers into the bubble***

 **Donfyre: Yeah, some more insight would be nice! ^^; *quickly noms up the jolly ranchers, including the wrappers again* owo**

 **DarkFoxKit: … Meanwhile I'm going to have a sugar rushed Wooper to deal with. I hope you guys enjoy and review the chapter. I am DarkFoxKit, this candy maniac is Donfyre and we look forward to hearing from you! *is pushing the bubble off camera* Seriously, stop eating the wrappers!**

 **Donfyre: NEVEEEEER! I MUST SAVOR EVERY BIT! owO**

* * *

 **Chapter 22: The Chimera Lab**

Claus didn't get any sleep last night, and the young Commander had a feeling he won't be getting sleep any time soon either. After that mysterious earthquake and light show, he got a very uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, especially after what that black Pigmask said to him just before it happened. With the black Pigmask gone, the Pigmask Colonel told him they have everything under control again in Thunder Tower, which Claus was thankful for since he wanted to head back to the base right away to talk to the only Magypsy on his side.

Using his jetwings, Claus flew back to the base with immense speed. The morning sun did nothing to soothe him like it used to, instead it just brought dread to him as what the black Pigmask said replayed in his head over and over again. _"I don't know if you've noticed, but the time is here, once the morning sun rises into the sky I assure you that the first of the seven Needles will be pulled."_

Claus's body was on autopilot as he landed and hurried into the tunnel underground that leads to the base. The boy didn't stop running and when he was now in the hallway and close to Fassad, he began mentally begging to himself. _Please don't let a Needle be pulled. Please don't let a Needle be pulled. Please don't let it be Lucas. Please don't let it be Lucas..._

* * *

His mechanical eye lead him to where Fassad is- which he was thankful for since he wouldn't be thinking straight enough to remember he could activate his helmet to find the Magypsy at this point- who was in his own room. Claus didn't even bother to knock as he opened the door himself and hurried inside.

"Fassad! Please tell me a Needle hadn't been pulled!" Claus all but yelled, but the grim look on Fassad's face already told him the dreaded answer he didn't want to hear. "... W-was it… was it my brother Lucas who pulled it?"

"Well… judging from your reaction it certainly wasn't _you_ who pulled it," Fassad answered grimly.

"N-no… oh Lucas… what have you done…" Claus felt sick. He knew his brother meant well, but it just felt like his own flesh and blood had stabbed him in the back. "Fassad… I… I'm so sorry… I didn't know… Lucas would pull…"

"It's not your fault, Commander. None of us knew this was going to happen, especially now," Fassad said softly to the young boy. "I guess the other Magypsies believed the time is now and told your brother to pull the first Needle, which was in Osohe Castle… that's Aeolia's Needle."

Claus remembered Aeolia, she was the first Magypsy he and his brother met- well technically they did meet Fassad/Locria first but he didn't look like a Magypsy unless he wore make-up. "So she's… he's… gone now?"

"Yeah," Fassad answered with a sigh.

The young Commander had dreaded this; if Lucas were to pull Locria's Needle then Fassad would disappear too and he's become a great mentor, and a friend, for Claus to look up to. "We can't… let him pull the other Needles…"

"Yes, you're right." A voice wheezed as someone else entered the room.

"Master Porky!" Both Commanders quickly saulted as Porky himself used the levitating wheel chair to move.

"The first Needle has been pulled. *cough* *wheeze* We can't allow the other six to be pulled or everything we've done would have been in vain- *wheeze* and _nobody_ would survive," Porky said grimly. "The colonies have been working hard to- *cough* *cough* rebuild the world. They have already started growing vegetation in the continents, progress is slow but there IS progress. *wheeze* *cough* We must focus our efforts now to protecting the other Needles and stop the boy from pulling any more."

"Yes sir, we will do everything we can to stop… to stop… my brother from pulling anymore Needles," Claus said, sounding rather troubled that his own twin brother was pulling the Needles, which meant they were now enemies, and he really hated seeing Lucas as his enemy.

"I know this must be hard for you young Commander. *wheeze* *cough* I had hoped it wouldn't have come to this." Porky wheezed as he spoke to Claus in a soft tone. "You do not have to kill your brother, just knock him out and keep him from pulling any more Needles- even if you have to bring him here as a prisoner, that's all you have to do."

"I will do my best sir." Claus sounded relieved there. "But it will not be easy."

"Fassad, I need you to set up a coordinates where the other Needles are. *cough* *cough* We must send our Pigmasks to each location to protect them at all cost," Porky said to the older Commander.

"Yes Master Porky, I will do so right away," Fassad said as he saluted.

"And you, my young Commander…" Porky addressed Claus. "You will decide which Needle you will go to. Whichever Needle is the closest will be ideal as that is most likely where- *wheeze* *cough* *cough* your brother will go next."

"I believe that would be Doria's Needle, 'her's' is close to the Chimera Lab set in the same location as the primary Clayman Factory and Club Titiboo," Fassad explained.

"Alright, so I'll go find Doria's Needle and try to stop Lucas from pulling it," Claus said.

"I'm afraid getting to Doria's Needle won't be so easy," Fassad said with a frown. "She's blocked off with a magic door that won't open without a certain dance, and the only creature I know that can dance this magic dance would be… my old monkey, Salsa."

"I think Lucas told me he's seen Salsa a few times," Claus said with a thought.

"Fassad," Porky wheezed out. "I believe that monkey- *cough* was seen in the Chimera Lab last night, trying to save a girl monkey we had in there. It's possible- *cough* they could still be there now."

"Then I'll go check it out and see if I can get Salsa to help me get to Doria's Needle," Claus said with a salute. "I will do my best to protect that Needle at all cost."

"Very well," Fassad said with a nod. "I will set up coordinates into your helmet so you can find it easier. Be careful in the Chimera Lab, it's not a place for the faint of heart."

"Thank you, Fassad," Claus said gratefully, knowing he now had an important mission; stop his twin brother.

* * *

 _After Fassad set up the coordination, I was sent right away to the Chimera Lab by Master Porky himself. I hope they had an Instant Revitalizing Chamber there as I heard rumors it's as good as getting a full night sleep, which I could really use right now. If not then I guess I better stick it out then. I used my jetwings- gotta love having the ability to fly everywhere- to get to the Chimera Lab, using the helmet to help me find the place since it's hidden from immediate sight. I flew past the Clayman Factory and looked around a bit until I saw a building under some trees, that must be it. I have never been in the Chimera Lab before and I never truly intended to ever come here, but looks like plans have to change in these circumstances._

When Claus landed near the Chimera Lab, he made his way to the entrance, where a single low Pigmask rank was standing guard. The boy looked up at the roof and his irises shrank in horror when he saw an organic animal head attached to the entire building. Claus quickly tried to convince himself that it's not a real head for the sake of his sanity… and his stomach. _Why would they feel the need to make the Chimera Lab itself a CHIMERA!? That had BETTER be for decoration!_

The Pigmask noticed Claus and immediately oinked frantically. "Oh Commander! Thank goodness you're here! Those monkeys are causing trouble in the Chimera Lab and we are trying our best to catch them!"

"I will see what I can do. I need one of those monkeys to protect something very important," Claus said with a nod, trying to ignore the fact the lab itself could very well BE a chimera.

"Not in my place to stand in your way, Commander," The Pigmask said as he saluted.

Claus slowly went inside the door, feeling a little sick at thinking he could possibly be walking inside a poor chimera, and saw some Pigmasks going from door to door frantically searching for something- most likely the monkeys that escaped.

 _This is going to be a long day…_ Claus groaned to himself.

* * *

The young Commander walked through the long hallways of the lab, talking to some of the Pigmasks running around. Most of them were the low ranks, but there were a few Captains here. "Any signs of where the monkeys are?"

"Unfortunately not, Commander. We are still looking," A Pigmask told him. "This place is pretty big, I often forget which way is which."

"Yeah, I can understand that," Claus sighed. "Well keep looking, they couldn't have escaped this place so easily. We need them if we want to protect the Needle and this world."

The Pigmask seemed a little surprised at the last state Claus made, but quickly saluted either way. "Yes sir!"

 _How hard can it be to at least_ find _two monkeys?_ Claus thought to himself, randomly walking down corridors of the aisle. _Maybe Fassad was right, I should've taken that time to get some rest… but no, I had my duty at Thunder Tower, and I helped it from being destroyed…_

Claus half-walked half-trudged through the factory, a part of him just wanting this search to be over with. He would see Pigmasks running through the corridors too, frantically searching as they ran in and out of the rooms scattered across the halls. _I should probably be a little more thorough too. Let's see… oh, this room looks unchecked._

Claus picked a random door and pushed through, no room for being courteous. He entered a big room that reminded him of a museum, there were skeletons of different types of creatures being exhibit here, though they were all chimeras… except for maybe the big dinosaur bone.

"Is that a Drago's bones?" He wondered to himself. It didn't seem so bad, Claus was used to seeing bones since his dog Boney loves to dig them up.

But what caught the curious Commander's attention was a stuffed frog in the room. Why is there a random stuffed frog in a place showing chimera skeletons? The boy approached the frog and touched it with his gloved hand, as if expecting any kind of response from it. "Hmm… Maybe Fassad put this here knowing about these 'save' frogs? Why didn't he tell me about them? Maybe I could've talked to one before I lost a limb…"

Claus sighed before shaking his head, knowing that losing his arm and eye were his own fault and he has to deal with the consequences, at least he didn't lose his life then.

The boy saw two different doors, he decided to go into one of them first and see if the monkeys are there. That was a big mistake on his part, because instead of monkeys he walked into a room with tables full of containers with green glowing liquid, but that's not what made him regret coming into this room. What made him really regret ever laying both his organic and synthetic eyes of this place were the things _inside_ the green water containers.

Floating, bubbling, pieces and sections and parts of animal innards. Whether they were alive or dead, Claus didn't like the look of all these tubes of preserved animal parts. He briefly wondered how some of the Pigmasks could stand looking at these kind of things, and if there were any other rooms like this one too. He shook his head, looking down a little to avert his gaze from the containers.

 _Okay… still gotta find some monkeys. Just don't look at the creepy green tubes… I don't think I'll ever eat meat again… or vegetables… or fruits… maybe I'll ask if I can get my own stomach replaced..._ He walked slowly around the room, searching the floor for any sign of the monkeys. Every once in a while, he glanced up to see if they were hiding on higher ground, but he was only ever met with another glimpse of the containers. Finally, when he felt as if he scoured the entire area, he ran out as fast as possible and shut the door behind him, letting out a sigh of relief that he didn't even know had been held.

"W-well… time to keep searching then," Claus said, gulping and hesitantly continuing his search.

* * *

The boy walked back into the room with bones, at least this place didn't make him feel like throwing up and never wanting to eat again. He started walking past the stuffed frog to go into the door into the next room when he could've sworn he heard it talking.

" _Ribbit. Where do you think you're going?"_

Claus froze before slowly turning to the stuffed frog on the pedestal. It hadn't moved or shown any signs of life. "... Am I going insane?" He asked himself, which he believed is very possible after seeing those animal parts in the last room.

" _You can use PSI, right? I can sense it,"_ the voice continued to say. _"Aren't you going to take this opportunity to save? I believe you've done it at least once already."_

"Wh-w-w-what!?" Claus was staring at the 'stuffed' frog in shock. "How are you TALKING!? Are you even _alive_!? A-and how did you know I 'saved' once before!?"

" _I may not be alive… but I still have my duty as a save frog to do!"_ Claus had no idea how this 'stuffed' frog was even talking in the first place when its mouth wasn't even moving. _"And every frog knows when a PSI user's saved their adventure if they've done it at least once. Speaking of which, I'll ask again… do you want to save?"_

 _Save huh? … That last frog DID save my life… along with the lives of many… but… I can't just always cheat death. I mean I'm the Commander of an army, I have to learn to take responsibilities for my actions and mistakes. Fassad taught me that, and it's how I even became a Commander. I can't fear death and I can't let the idea that I may get away with it make me lax and spoiled. I have to keep death a real threat like any other human being._ Claus thought carefully to himself before speaking to the frog. "Sorry, but I won't be saving this time."

" _Alright, I'll just overwrite this save- Wait, what?!"_ the 'stuffed' frog sounded surprised… even if didn't show it. _"You're not going to take an opportunity to possibly save your_ life _in the future? You're a PSI user, and I can see your journey is a dangerous one!"_

Claus couldn't help but imagine the frog would be hopping around all frantic-like if it could move. "Yeah I'm a PSI user, but I'm also a commanding officer of a military army. I can't let myself get spoiled and set a bad example, so while the offer is nice and literally lifesaving, I'm afraid I'll have to decline. I need to face death like a real human being."

" _..."_ There was a moment of silence. Claus wondered if he really had been just imagining things, and he was going crazy from lack of sleep. But a response eventually came. _"... I can see your reasoning. You wouldn't want something like a lifesaving opportunity to get to your head. Well… I respect your decision then, even though I would have liked to do something in my lifeless life… Good luck on the rest of your journey then! And tell any other frogs you meet that I said hi!"_

"Uh… sure, thanks." Claus still found it weird he's talking to a lifeless frog of all things, but at least it was understanding.

* * *

The young Commander walked into the next room, it was a little bit smaller than the one with the bones, but it still looked like a museum. There were stuffed replicas of all sorts of chimeras here. The boy walked through the exhibits before walking into the next room, which was darker. Claus's eyes widen when he saw brains of animals in containers, and spinal cord bones floating in larger containers.

 _I wouldn't be surprised by the time I leave here I'll never want to eat or sleep ever again. I really… need to have a word with Master Porky about this. Surely once the colonies grow the necessary vegetation we won't need chimeras anymore, right?_ Claus thought to himself, trying not to look directly at the skeletons and organs.

"Hmm?" Claus blinked when his synthetic eye began to pick up signs of life, though it made the boy pale. _Oh no, please don't tell me one of these brains are still somehow conscious!_ But the life readings showed two lifeforms, and it's a bit too strong to just be a brain's reading. Curious now, Claus followed the direction his synthetic eye was leading him to.

" _Another one!"_ Claus heard what sounded like monkey screeching. The boy gasped as he remembered he was here to find Salsa.

When the Commander approached the end of the table, he saw two monkeys there, panicking when they saw him.

" _Run Samba! Hurry!"_ The boy monkey screeched.

The two of them ran away and Claus sighed when he saw how fast they were. _Ugh… if only Lucas was here, he could- no, if he_ was _here he'd just get Salsa on his side and then he'd pull the Needle. I've got to find a way to catch Salsa…_

Claus hurried back out of the room, glad to not see those brains anymore, and stopped when he came out into the replica bones room, only to be face-to-face with a mechanical lion… well almost mechanical as its face was still organic. It growled at him and pounced him into the wall without warning.

"C-Commander!" Claus heard some Pigmasks squealing in panic nearby.

Claus glared in irritation at the almost-but-not-quite robotic lion as its sharp tail secreted some venom as it intended to inject into the boy. Claus wasn't going to have it as he used his boots to kick and push back the lion away from him.

The lion- or robotic lion- … the Almost Mecha-Lion roared in anger, backing up to get ready and pounce at Claus. The boy transformed his arm into the arm cannon in response, aiming it at the chimera.

"H-hey, what the heck's wrong with this chimera?!" Claus yelled out loud, hoping some of the Pigmasks would hear and at least respond.

"The scientists were trying to finish its procedures when some monkeys opened all the chimera's cages! It caused the alarms to blare and awaken the lion before it could be finished! It's going out of control because of it!" The Pigmask quickly said but sounding frantic.

"And some weird red thing passed by the chimera's cages before they suddenly went wild. We don't know what's wrong with them, they were perfectly calm moments before!" The other Pigmask squealed.

The Almost Mecha Lion leaped at Claus again, but the Commander shot a PSI Blast at it, sending it into the wall before he turned his cannon back into a hand again.

"PK Thunder beta!" Claus let loose a powerful jolt of electricity from his hand and zapped the lion, rendering it unconscious. Claus had long learned mechanical chimeras were very vulnerable to lightning.

The chimera crashed and landed on its side into a few pedestals, knocking over some bones, including the lifeless frog. Some smoke was seeping out of the unconscious Almost Mecha Lion, almost as if it was more robotic than living… Claus shook his head, trying to get those thoughts out. While he was given assurances long ago, there were still times when he thought of how it would be like if he himself had become a human chimera.

* * *

"Nice job, Commander!" one of the Pigmasks, a Captain, said. "You took that one out pretty easily!"

Claus bend down to pick up the 'stuffed' frog and said, "Yeah… but those monkeys... they've been located. I need everyone to be notified and for those monkeys to be captured right away before they cause anymore damage."

"Yes sir!" the Captain responded, saluting.

However, just as the Captain was about to run off, he stopped and backtracked back to Claus. "Oh… there's one more thing I need to tell you. One of the other chimeras that was released and also went haywire… It's what we call the Ultimate Chimera. It's a red thing with a gigantic mouth. If you happen to see it, then… GET THE HECK OUT OF THERE! Don't even _try_ to fight it. It is literally invincible, it can't be hurt no matter what and it WILL kill you!"

The Commander frowned at that, "What!? Why would you make such a chimera!? I thought they were made only to help rebuild the world!" He didn't realize he was still holding the 'stuffed' frog in his gloved hand.

The Captain did a half shrug, and also winced a little at Claus's outburst, "W-well, we do have our reasons. Sometimes, the possibility remains of an animal or rouges near the colonies that's too dangerous to fight against with the Pigmasks. So this chimera could help in those situations. … Aaaand maybe Dr. Andonuts kind of wanted to see how far he could go to make the ultimate chimera… as you can see; he succeeded..." he added that last part in a small voice.

"Ugh… that crazy doctor would make a super human chimera if he ever got the chance." Claus spat, getting really irritated at this whole situation, that and it could also be from the lack of sleep. "And how do you even plan to capture it if it could just kill all of us with so much of a funny look?"

"W-we're not sure but we're doing everything we can sir!" The Pigmask Captain answered nervously.

Claus then heard a lot of panicking and pain filled squeals and screams coming from outside the door, his synthetic eye and helmet detected life forces being crushed and a very powerful indescribable power was responsible, it felt wild and untamable. "... No, we need to evacuate everyone. This chimera is far too dangerous, we can't have it killing everyone. I'll keep looking for the monkeys, but you need to get everyone to evacuate this place _now_!"

"Y-yes sir!" The Captain saluted, quickly running out to warn his fellow Pigmasks.

* * *

Claus sighed to himself, assessing the situation in his head. Now he had to deal with an invincible, instant-killing, now-gone-haywire chimera while searching for some really elusive monkeys. He hoped he could find them quickly and just be done with this place so he can protect the Needle and possibly get some sleep.

" _You heard that? An invincible chimera,"_ the 'stuffed' frog said in Claus's hand, making him jump; he had forgotten that he was still holding onto this thing. _"Sounds dangerous. Maybe you can, oh I dunno… *cough* Save *cough*"_

"Forget it, I'm not going to 'save'," Claus replied stubbornly as he activated his helmet. He was trying to find the signals for the monkeys, but there were too many interferences. _No good, I can't sense them from here. Guess I'll have to find them the old-fashioned way and hope I don't get myself killed._

The boy put the stuffed frog back on the pedestal and said, "I thank you for your concern and offer though, perhaps if my brother ever comes by he could use your 'saving' powers, but for me… I'm going to go without it. Now if you'll excuse me I have two very naughty monkeys to find."

With that, the young Commander left the room and began cautiously looking down the hallway. What sent shivers down his spine were the cries of the Pigmasks, he just knew they were terrified and many of them were dying because of that MONSTER going out of control. As Claus ran down the hallway, he saw some very terrified low rank Pigmasks huddled in a corner, if it weren't for their masks he probably would see them crying.

"Pigmasks! You need to evacuate the premise _now_!" Claus commanded.

The Pigmasks yelped before saluting and running to the door. The young Commander knew he had to hurry and hope the other Pigmasks would snap out of their frozen panic enough to get their bacon out of this death trap.

Claus quickly ran through the halls, opening all the doors and shouting to any hiding Pigmasks to get out of the building _now_! Every now and then, he could hear the cries of the released chimeras and even a loud, terrifying roar echoing through building. The roar was what Claus assumed to be the Ultimate Chimera, and it sent shivers down his spine.

By the time Claus had checked every room on this floor, he was sure - or at least, he hoped - that all the Pigmasks had evacuated, with the Pigmask Captains helping to evacuate on the other floors.

The roars sounded very close now, it worried Claus. The boy walked cautiously here, on high alert now. He hurried down back to the first floor and looked around in the hallway… it seemed to be clear… Claus hurried down the hall, checking every room he could for the monkeys or possible Pigmasks that were still around.

There was one room that made him sick again, not quite as sick as those other rooms in the animal innards, but it did make him very uncomfortable. It was like a freezer inside, and there were frozen animals in chambers. Claus's synthetic eye could detect the frozen creatures were still alive, including a Drago that was in a big one. It saddened Claus to see these animals were frozen and waiting to be experimented on so they'll be transformed into chimeras.

Suddenly there was a loud roar that shook the whole room, snapping Claus out of his musings. The young Commander knew he had no time to mourn for these poor creatures right now, he had to find the monkeys and get the heck out of this death trap!

Claus ran back into the hall but stopped suddenly when he saw a big red thing with a gigantic mouth and… a little yellow bird on its head for some reason. It spotted the Commander and began charging at him. Claus yelped and ran into another room immediately. The boy waited a few seconds as he activated his helmet, seeing its enormous life force running past the room he was in and into another floor. Sighing in relief, Claus slowly came back out to see it was gone, but it was still nearby so he better be cautious.

* * *

The boy hurried the opposite direction down the hall and was passing a trashcan when his eye indicated a human was in there. He stopped and figured it was another panicking Pigmask hiding and he wasn't going to leave anyone behind.

"Hey! You need to get out now!" Claus demanded.

"C-Commander?" To Claus's shock; he saw Dr. Andonuts' head popping out of the trashcan. "Commander! What a surprise! I mean I didn't expect you to come here… you _never_ come here."

"Dr. Andonuts? What are you doing here?" Claus demanded.

"... I uh… kinda created most of the chimeras…" he said as if it was obvious.

The helmet wearing boy realized that was a stupid question, he had been aware Dr. Andonuts created the chimeras but after seeing so many things that sickened him he almost wanted to scream at him for making such things. "How can you stand doing these things to those poor animals?"

"C-Claus…" Dr. Andonuts said, saying his name instead of his title. "You know as well I do that it's necessary… I don't like doing it to those poor creatures but it's for the good of the world."

Claus sighed, he didn't have time nor was in the mood to start arguing about this, "Whatever, the Ultimate Chimera you so _proudly_ made is now on an out of control killing spree! Is there any way to stop it?"

Dr. Andonuts flinched at Claus's harsh remark, "W-well… I… sadly the blueprints to the Ultimate Chimera was lost… so I can't remember how to-"

He was cut off by a sudden loud roar, it was so loud and so close that it shook the entire hallway. Claus gasped when he saw the big red chimera was back and is now running at him. "You need to get out of here!"

"I'll be fine, just save yourself!" Dr. Andonuts yelled as he ducked his head back into the trashcan.

* * *

Claus ran the opposite direction, trying to get away from the monster. The boy kept running until he came down to a basement and stopped as he shut the door. _That should buy me some time._ Then he noticed a giant operating table in front of him, it was so big that he bet a full grown Drago could fit on it. There were various operating tools around it, and they were HUGE and SHARP.

 _I don't even WANT to know what that's for._ Claus thought to himself in grimace. The boy walked around a bit before noticing an elevator and a Pigmask Captain standing near it. "Captain, what are you still doing here?"

"O-oh! Commander sir!" The Captain said, surprised to see Claus here. "I-I just saw a couple of monkeys run through here, but I'm not sure if I should catch them or get out of here."

"You get out of here before that chimera finds you. I'll find the monkeys myself," Claus said with a determined expression. When the Captain hesitated, Claus spoke in a firmer tone, "By order of your Commander; go _now_."

The Pigmask Captain squealed before saluting. "Y-yes sir!" Then he quickly ran off.

Claus activated the elevator, he was glad to know he was close to the monkeys now. _I just have to stun them so I can catch them and get the heck out of here._ Claus thought to himself as the elevator door opened and took him down to the basement.

The young Commander stepped out of the elevator when it opened again, and saw a low rank Pigmask on the ground, looking rather exhausted. There were cages around here that still had chimeras in them.

"C-Commander… ugh… I couldn't catch those monkeys… I'm such a failure," The Pigmask groaned.

"Don't worry about them. I will handle the monkeys, you just get out of this building now, it's too dangerous to stay here," Claus said softly to him.

A scientist walked over, he didn't wear a Pigmask uniform and instead wore a white coat like Dr. Andonuts. The scientist looked rather terrified and said, "Th-that monkey… it let the red one out of its cage… we're all going to die…"

"No, there's still time. You all must get out of here now!" Claus quickly said, "I will get the monkeys that caused this, but you must leave before the Ultimate Chimera finds you."

"I'll get us out Commander. You just be sure you get out too," The Pigmask said as he stood up and saluted, then he picked up the traumatized scientist.

"I will, just watch out for the chimera on your way out," The boy said before the Pigmask and the scientist went into the elevator.

Claus hurried deeper into the basement, running through the rooms. It was very red here as the alarms were going off. Claus head to the very back of the room and there he saw the two monkeys. Salsa still had his collar on and the girl monkey he called Samba earlier had a pink ribbon on her head.

The two monkeys quickly noticed the young Commander and began to panic a bit.

Salsa let out a screech. _"Hurry Samba, this way!"_

The two of them jumped on top of the cages and hurried away. Claus groaned as he remembered monkeys had such agility, "Oh COME ON!"

Claus didn't even bother to look around at his surroundings anymore, he was losing patience with these troublesome monkeys. The sleepless Commander ran through the hallways and went back up the elevator, going through the nearest door… only to see that Ultimate Chimera right in his face, and he quickly slammed the door in its giant mouth.

"OH MY PORK! WILL THIS THING EVER STOP!?"

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: Yeah, sorry about that seemingly abrupt ending. Like I said I'm splitting the chapters, so expect this kind of 'ending' from time to time. But it makes for a nice cliffhanger. ;P**


	23. Chapter 23: The Second Needle

**DarkFoxKit: *was intensely doing something on the computer's monitor. She had a bunch of signs that said "KEEP OUT" outside her door.* Almost done…**

 **Donfyre: *suddenly SLAMS the door open, peeking my head inside* Fooooox? I can't help but notice that you have a bunch of keep out signs in front of your room.**

 **DarkFoxKit: WAAAAAH! *covers the monitor* WHY ARE YOU HERE!? KEEP OUT MEANS KEEP YOUR LITTLE CURIOUS WOOPER TAIL OUT!**

 **Donfyre: EEP! *quickly leaves and slams the door shut… before eventually opening the door again, gently this time, and poking my head inside* So, uh… What are you doing in here? ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: *grumbles* I'm just… working on a fan comic is all. You're not allowed to see it until after it's done! … Wait, is that camera rolling?**

 **Donfyre: A fan comic? Lemme see! *bounces over to Fox* … Oh, the camera? Yeah, that was the other thing I was gonna tell you, our scheduled time for the AN is now. Hey, maybe it caught whatever you were drawing! c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: …. *Fyre found himself inside a bubble once again* Let's just get to the point, shall we?**

 **Donfyre: H-hey! No faaaair! *pouts at her* I don't get any fun in this bubble!**

 **DarkFoxKit: You don't deserve fun after sneaking up on me like that! *growls***

 **Shimo no ko: Yes, Claus is now a poor workaholic boy. He's not getting a lot of sleep either it seems, wonder how that'll affect him later on? *hint hint* Yeah, we decided to just cut the chapters and upload every week. As for Lucas… we'll just let the rest of the story speak for itself.**

 **CalmTheHydregion: Tie that up with Fyre, please. c:**

 **Donfyre: Wha? H-HEY! DX You're always trying to restrain me or something, Fox! Moving on… *grumbles***

 **Connor the speling pro: You don't think it was all me who did that? Aw, thanks, though I don't like saying that Fox also had a part even if it was true. ^^; But we'll both keep trying to keep that in mind!**

 **Oh, you like the Claus chapters due to his personality and the tone that accompanies it? That's cool! Fox here makes a good Claus, like how I'm good for writing as Lucas. XP Glad to hear that we're doing good in that aspect.**

 **DarkFoxKit: What's that supposed to mean? … Anyways, originally we were going to have Claus take the save frog, then die to the Ultimate Chimera, but decided if we kept doing that it would get old really fast, and it'd be kinda gruesome how Claus would die, so the idea was scrapped.**

 **Commas, always gotta be the commas that get me. T_T**

 **FanofFiction123: I didn't wear any costumes… I don't really care for Halloween. ^^' But I have a Zorua hat if that counts for anything.**

 **… Uh… that's great about how your Halloween went, but I'd rather you leave reviews about the story. If you want to just chat then get an account and leave a PM or something. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: I think she said something about pushing it with a Wattpad account. I guess if you wanted to tell Fox something then you can tell me on Wattpad and I can rely it to her…? ^^; But it was still a nice Halloween story. :P**

 **Blah! I can speak as much as whether I'm in the bubble or not! *pouts at the review* Anyways… looks like we're already finished.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Geez, seems everyone's busy with midterms and stuff right now. Hopefully things will slow down soon, you know? So Fyre, how do you like that bubble?**

 **Donfyre: Hmm… *bounces around* It's cozy… but I can't do anything in here! DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: Good, now stay in there for a while. :3 We look forward to hearing from you guys! Oh and this is the end of Part 3, next chapter is Part 4.**

 **Donfyre: WHAT?! NO! DX *pushes against the bubble* … Oh, we're already finished with Part 3? Huh… we're catching up with this story. ^^;**

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: Seems we have a last minute review, but Fyre's not available right now, so I'll take this one.**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan : Yay! You finally reviewed this story again! XD And please don't say you're not worthy to review, we always look forward to see what you have to say.**

 **Well the summary did hint at this happening, now the two brothers stand on opposing sides. And for the Magypsies, the Time waits for no man.**

 **Well they say good intentions can pave the road to Hell if you're not careful. To the Pigmasks these are all done with the best of intentions, even if it seems very wrong. The Pigmasks fully believe they are the good guys and that's what makes it hard to hate them. They're not bad people, they're just doing what they believe is right.**

 **Yeah, the Chimera Lab is often one of the most disturbing places in the game. I had to look through the game and areas to write it accurately in the story, and Claus's reaction. It was pretty fun grossing Claus out like that though, XD.**

 **The frog isn't dead exactly, it's just stuffed, but it can still save your game so I figured it might have some life in there. The frogs don't make too much sense in both the game and the story, and that's what makes them quirky and fund to write.**

 **Yeah, I'm trying to show how strong Claus have gotten with three years of training, plus the bionic arm and eye addition to go along with it, not to mention his PK Thunder is his strongest element thanks to the thunder sword he's wielding.**

 **Of course, wouldn't be much of a Chimera Lab without the Ultimate Chimera. XD And Claus cares more about the soldier's life than the fact he could lose some of his army.**

 **Well in chapter 2 it was explained the world was mostly dead and couldn't sustain life very well, so the chimeras were there to live through the harsh environment and adapt for the new generation of animals. Remember, the Pigmasks are trying to rebuild the world through any means necessary, while Lucas's side is trying to reborn the world with the Dark Dragon's power.**

 **Gotta love them cliffhangers. X3**

 **Heck yeah we've heard about Super Mystery Dungeon, it's something I've been waiting for since way back when they first announcement! When it was nothing but just a title, not even a single screen shot. What Pokemon would you be and who's your partner gonna be?**

 **Ironically I thought of Eels and Escalators too when I wrote that word down. Dang it Spongebob, you've corrupted me! And I've always wondered why the Whatevers seem to have a crush on the Commander?**

 **Just let Claus stare into your soul! O.O  
**

 **The earlier chapters get easier to forget after a while, huh? ^^' I do have to go back and re-read them from time to time to make sure I didn't miss anything. At first I wasn't going to put in the save frogs, but I really wanted to use them at least once or twice in this story, the frogs are too lovable to _not_ include! Of course Claus will be okay... maybe.**

 **Hee, hee, hee, I'm glad you're interested in the black Pigmask, he kinda came out of nowhere honestly, but I liked the direction we went with him.**

 **Yeah, the review is late, but I can still answer it... just not with my partner in cri- I mean writing. ^^' As for what graduating feel like... like I don't have to worry about school anymore. XP Though jobs and parents pressuring you about your career is a whole other story I rather not get into right now.**

 **Yup, animal games are awesome, but rare unfortunately. ^^'**

 **Well we appreciate nice and long reviews if they enjoy our chapter that much. XD And we hope to hear from you again soon!**

* * *

 **Chapter 23: The Second Needle**

Claus ran down the hallway, using his helmet to try and find anymore life signals, he could detect a few weak ones. Most likely one coming from Dr. Andonuts, at least he's not dead but Claus wished he'd just leave the building already, and two others together in one room. Coming to the conclusion that they must be the monkeys, Claus followed the direction his helmet lead him to and ran as fast as he could to catch and hopefully corner them this time.

 _I am going to get you, you troublesome monkeys!_ Claus growled as he went through another door and came to another room. This room had more cages… well it was more like glass cages, but at least these chimeras were already brought back. And by the corner the boy could see those two troublesome monkeys.

With Salsa and Samba now cornered, the two could only screech and try to scare the Commander away… which failed miserably, if anything it only seemed to annoy him more. "Stop it! You two have caused a LOT of trouble here!"

" _Hey pal, it's not like I WANTED to be here! But you Pigmasks were going to turn my sweet girl into a chimera! I wasn't having that!"_ Salsa snapped back.

" _P-please, just… just don't hurt us."_ Samba begged timidly.

"I didn't come here to hurt or take you back to the scientists. I just need a monkey who can dance in front of a stupid magic door." Claus grumbled, obviously very irritated.

To Claus's growing annoyance though, the monkeys were not willing at all to compromise. Salsa just screeched angrily at the boy. _"Really? How can we trust that you're telling the truth, huh? All of these crazy scientists and lying Pigmasks have been doin' nothing but treating us unfairly!"_

"Well I'm sorry about that, but I don't have time to argue! Please just come with me and do a quick little dance and I promise that you will be free as a bird and this lab will be nothing but a bad memory, okay?" Claus said tiredly, had he been thinking more clearly he probably would've realized it could've been a lot easier if he had removed his helmet and showed the monkeys a face they actually trusted.

" _I-I think it might be a good idea to trust him, he doesn't look like he's trying to trick us…"_ Samba said quietly to her partner, poking him.

Still, Salsa wasn't looking to back down very easily. He was still standing protectively in front of Samba. _"You work with them too, don't you? The Pigmasks? They've done a lot of swindling tricks to me and my girl, and I won't risk coming back! I hope these chimeras attack all your people!"_

The young Commander was rather shocked to hear what the monkey was saying about the Pigmasks. The very people he had worked with for three years had almost become like a second family to him, and yet he never once questioned their motives and worked hard to help them rebuild the world, he didn't think too much about chimeras or the creatures that were being turned into them, mostly because he blocked it out. But seeing the suffering the monkeys themselves are going through made him start to doubt that these motives may not have been as clear and pure as he had once thought, and that troubled him.

"... But they are… doing what they can to help fix this broken world." Claus said, though mostly to himself. "I know that turning animals into chimeras is… unnatural, but we don't have a choice."

" _Don't have a choice? Is that the only excuse you're going to give? HA! I say to that! If you need some half cyborgs to live beyond this blessing of an island, then do it to yourselves! Don't take US away from our homes and change us against our wills for a mess YOU created!"_ Salsa snapped.

At this, the 13 year old boy began to feel a little sick. After seeing the things he's seen in the Chimera Lab he wasn't entirely sure if the Pigmasks are what they say they are, this was far too cruel to the animals than he would've liked. However, before anything else could be said, there was a loud roar behind him. Claus mentally cursed himself for being so distracted that he failed to notice the danger that approached this room.

" _There's our cue."_ Salsa said, motioning to Samba. _"C'mon, we should get out of here while we can. Let the chimeras turn everything around."_

Samba was still trembling in fear from the entire situation, but still trusted Salsa's word. She slowly nodded her head. _"O-okay, let's go."_

* * *

The Ultimate Chimera let out another roar before it dived at Claus, who reacted quickly and jumped away from its incoming giant mouth that would've ended his life the same way his Mother's life ended. The force of the sudden impact of the chimera caused the entire place to shake, and Claus wasn't able to get away from its tail as it slammed him into the floor. "Ugh…"

The young Commander was thankful for his helmet, otherwise he was sure his head would've split open right then and there. _Well this is a fine predicament I've gotten myself into._

The Ultimate Chimera turned back to Claus and began approaching him. Claus tried to activate his helmet to assess just how strong this chimera really is, unfortunately it seems that the helmet was messed up from that impact earlier, because all he could see was static, and it began to spark. "Oh darn it!" he quickly grabbed his helmet and threw it to the ground before it could explode on him. _I can't stay here._

Claus quickly ran out of the room as the Ultimate Chimera chased after him, not noticing the two monkeys had stopped running away and were watching him.

" _... I feel like that boy might be familiar."_ Salsa said, contemplating as he watched the Ultimate Chimera run after the boy.

" _He didn't really seem all that bad…"_ Samba added quietly. _"And it looked like he was really surprised when you were telling him that stuff about the Pigmasks."_

" _I wonder… is that boy…?"_ Salsa frowned before he turned to Samba. _"He needs help! Come on!"_

* * *

Claus stopped running as fatigued caught up to him, his lack of sleep and adding stress taking its toll on his young and yet to mature body, and almost collapsed on the floor as he staggered a bit into the hallway.

"C-Commander! You don't look so well… what happened to your helmet?" Dr. Andonuts asked in concern as he popped out of the trashcan again.

"Ugh… I don't really feel that well either… The helmet got destroyed." Claus groaned, feeling like he was going to pass out or something.

"Commander! I just remembered something important about that chimera! It's a battery controlled chimera and there is a button on its back that will shut it off!" Dr. Andonuts quickly said. "You just have to get on its back and it'll be nothing more than an oversized toy!"

"Are you crazy!? I can barely move right now!" Claus snapped.

Just then, the Ultimate Chimera let out a loud roar, stopping just a few yards in front of Claus, looking ready to pounce and attack Claus. By this point, Claus almost felt a sense of despair wash over him, his fatigue making it hard to do much of anything at this point.

"Ah! Q-quick Commander, you use yourself as bait! I'll sneak around and turn it off from behind!" Dr. Andonuts said frantically. Unfortunately, it didn't look like he was very keen on actually _leaving_ the trash can. He tried hopping his way - while still inside the trash can - around the Ultimate Chimera… which was quickly met with a loud roar from the beast, causing the doctor to frantically retreat back to Claus.

"Well nice try anyways." Claus grumbled before taking out the hilt of his Thunder Striker. "I guess the best thing to do is stand and fight."

The Ultimate Chimera jumped at Claus, with its mouth wide open, showing endless rows of sharp teeth. Claus braced himself for impact and… suddenly the thing fell to the ground, lifeless. "What?" The boy blinked in confusion.

On the Chimera's back was a familiar monkey. Salsa had just jumped on its back and pushed its off button. Claus looked at the monkey in curiosity before he said, "I don't understand… why did you save me?"

The monkey was frowning, just staring at the boy. _"Aren't you… that boy who helped me a while back? Your hair looks different though, it looks more orange."_ The monkey began studying him curiously. _"What happened to your arm? And why is one of your eyes red? … Oh… don't tell me they chimera-ized you too! Oh you poor thing… to think they would be sick enough to do that to a CHILD!"_ Salsa glared angrily at the doctor in the trashcan.

"W-what? Wait, I didn't-!" Dr. Andonuts yelped as he ran away from the angry monkey. "Please stop! I didn't turn him into a chimera!"

Claus almost wanted to laugh at this, but he spoke up, "Salsa, he's telling you the truth. I'm not a chimera even though I kind of look like one right now."

Salsa stopped chasing the poor man before turning back to the boy. _"I guess I should've known it was you since you and that girl are the only humans who can understand us. I'm sorry that I was yelling at you earlier, Lucas."_

The boy blinked before he realized that Lucas must've helped Salsa before. Claus wondered if he should correct the monkey and tell him he's actually his twin brother, but he didn't want to risk Salsa running away again before he could finish his mission.

"Um…" Claus hesitated before he decided to go with it. "Sure, yeah I'm Lucas. Thanks for saving me back there, Salsa."

" _It was the least I could do after all the trouble I must've caused you. I was just trying to get Samba and get out of this sick place."_ Salsa said as the girl monkey walked beside him.

"Well… if you want to make it up to me, could you please help me with something? That's the whole reason why I even came to this place at all." Claus said tiredly, really wishing he could just find a bed and sleep the day and night away, but he knew he couldn't, not when so much is at stake right now.

" _Sure, what do you need help with Lucas?"_ Salsa asked.

Claus was glad to have his full cooperation, he owed his brother for this. "Like I said earlier; I need you to dance in front of a magic door so it will open. After that you and Samba are free to go wherever your heart's desire."

" _A magic door you say? I think I've seen that door before."_ Samba spoke up, though a bit shyly. _"Um… I'll take you there if you want."_

"Sure, that'll be helpful Samba." Claus said in relief that he didn't have to go searching for it. "You two go on ahead, there's something I have to take care of before I go."

The two monkeys walked out of the building as Claus looked at Dr. Andonuts, still in the trashcan.

"Dr. Andonuts… is it really necessary to work on chimeras? I mean… I-I know Master Porky and Fassad said it's to help make the world thrive once more… but… it's just… so sickening…"

"Claus… you are only 13 years old… I can understand that even though you are the Commander of an army, you still have morals and child-like ideals." Dr. Andonuts said seriously. "And even though I don't enjoy doing this… I have to remember it's for a better world. All this, everything we've worked for, it's all for a better world one day."

"Y-yeah, but… this… I'm sorry Dr. Andonuts, you and the Pigmasks saved my life and my limbs and all I did was question you because of what a monkey said." Claus sighed and felt his own loyalties were weak for doubting them. "Dr. Andonuts, may I ask a request? Could you make a replacement helmet for me… _again_? I kind of need it to keep Lucas from finding out who I really am."

"Don't worry Commander, I've been working on a replacement helmet in case you lose yours again. I should be able to finish it by the time you finish this mission of yours. Just be sure to come back here to pick it up before you leave." Dr. Andonuts said. "And… you might want to get some sleep soon. Your body is still young and needs sleep more than most adults would."

"I know… but I can't afford to sleep until I make sure everything's okay." Claus said to him. "Just be sure the helmet's ready when I have to go."

With those words said, the boy left the lab behind while Dr. Andonuts went into another room. Nobody noticing the bird waited until everyone was gone before it jumped onto the red chimera's back and pushed the button, activating it once again...

* * *

Claus, happy the lab is now behind him, met up with the two monkeys again. Samba lead the way while Salsa and the young Commander followed her. The boy felt woozy as he walked, he tried not to fall over and keep his head straight. Salsa was walking behind him and noticed that the boy didn't look too good.

" _Lucas? Are you okay?"_ Salsa asked in concern.

"I'm… I'll be fine." Claus answered. "I'm just a bit… tired is all."

" _Maybe you should rest or something."_ Salsa suggested.

"I'll rest once this whole thing is over with." Claus sighed.

" _We're here."_ Samba spoke up, pointing at a huge stone door with dance moves on it. Both of them turned to Salsa as he walked in front of the door.

" _Fassad had me do a dance in front of a door in Osohe Castle, it would only open for that dance. This one looks like it works the same way… here goes!"_ Salsa began dancing and the young Commander have to admit it's rather entertaining to watch.

After that entertaining little dance, the stone door slid down into the ground, leading into a small but pretty little meadow. There were nice flowers growing here, a nice little pond that seems to emit a glow, though he didn't understand why there's a big empty hole in the ground next to it, but what caught his attention the most was a familiar pink shelled house. _That's definitely a Magypsy's house… looks like I made it before Lucas did._

Claus looked over at the two monkeys as they looked around the place with curiosity. "Thanks Salsa… and Samba, for helping out. You two can go now, I'm sure you won't be bothered by the Pigmasks anymore."

" _You sure about that? No more hassles with those big lying goofs?"_ Salsa asked one more time, holding one of his hands with Samba.

Claus tiredly nodded his head. "Yes, I'm sure. No more hassles."

" _Great! Come on Samba, we're free! You take care, Lucas!"_ Salsa excitedly tried to hurry away from the area, but Samba just stayed put.

" _Are you sure we should go_ now _, Salsa?"_ the female monkey asked, looking in concern at Claus, who was walking towards the Magypsy's house, his head tilting and nodding off every now and then. _"Your friend, um Lucas wasn't it? He doesn't seem so well… maybe we should stay with him just in case. He did a lot to help us so we might be able to help him too."_

" _... Well… I guess we should stick around and make sure he's okay."_ Salsa said. _"Alright, but we shouldn't stay too long in case those Pigmasks decides to look for us again."_

The two monkeys hurried behind Claus, who noticed them before he opened the door. "Hmm? What's wrong?"

" _We're just going to make sure you don't collapse on us."_ Salsa said.

"I'll be fine… but thanks for the concern." The boy said as he opened the unlocked door, seeing a chubby Magypsy wearing purple overalls… with no shirt underneath, and he/she was wearing sunglasses.

"Uh… hello?" Claus said slowly as he slowly peeked into the room, which was very similar to Aeolia's room.

* * *

The Magypsy gave a big smile. "Why hello there little cutie~!"

"U-uh… you're a Magypsy… right?" Claus asked cautiously.

"Of course! The one and only Doria for you~" the Magypsy, Doria, said, walking over to Claus - who now felt a little disturbed at being so close to the man/woman/thing. Even if he's seen them before, he still wasn't quite used to them. Fassad, on the other hand, acted more like a normal person.

"Now, what could such a young human and two cute little monkeys be doing in my little home~?" the Magypsy asked.

"Uh well… I'm looking for your Needle." Claus said. "I uh…" he stopped for a minute, remembering that all Magypsies except for Fassad wants to use the Dark Dragon's powers to restore the world. "I'm here to see if it's in good condition." He wanted to slap himself for such a weak excuse, but his tired mind wasn't working on 100% right now.

"Oh? Is that all~?" Doria said, speaking in the usual Magypsy sing-song tone of voice as 'she' looked around 'her' home absentmindedly. "Hmm… it looks to be in usual tip-top position, as always~! Is that all you came here to ask? There aren't many who take the time to get past that barrier I lovingly put up just to visit." 'she' giggled as 'she' said this. "Oh, but if that's what it is, I'm flattered~"

Claus sighed as he tried to think of a better excuse. "I'm just here to help protect the Needle, you know… so the wrong person doesn't pull it."

Doria stared and studied Claus for a minute, making the boy uncomfortable. "W-what?"

"Hmm…" 'she' suddenly put a hand over his forehead and then his chest, startling him as he backed away from 'her'.

"H-hey! What was that for!? Maybe you Magypsies don't know, but we humans have something called personal space!" Claus snapped, feeling a little violated from the sudden touch.

"Oh, did I startle you? I'm so so sorry dear!" 'she' said, as if feeling bad for 'her' actions. Still, 'she' looked at Claus with 'her' eyes sparkling. "But… I feel a strong power within you. Ooh, I knew it when I first laid eyes on you~ What's your name?"

"Uh…" Claus looked at the two monkeys beside him, and he's sure Doria knew Lucas so he couldn't just call himself that. "I'm… just the Commander, that's all."

Salsa and Samba didn't seem to react to that, and Claus was thankful they probably thought he was using the term 'Commander' as an undercover alias. Though the boy didn't like the look Doria was giving him. "A-anyways could you just tell me where your Needle is so I can set up protection around it and I can be on my way?"

"Oh, 'Commander' then? How mysterious~!" 'she' said, almost in a flirty way. "Now, you want to set up protection around my dear Needle? …" There was a moment of silence before 'she' answered, before a small smile formed on 'her' lips. "... Yes, I think that would be a _very_ good idea, 'Commander'~" 'she' giggled as 'she' agreed to the idea.

Claus sighed in relief for the cooperation. "That would be very helpful, thank you- uh… Doria was it? So where is the Needle?"

"Darling, it's just outside my lovely house~" Doria said as she opened the door and lead him and the monkeys back out.

Claus followed her as she stood in front of the little pond that had a mysterious glow to it. "Under this water lies my Needle. If you can get the water out, you can get to the Needle~."

"It's submerged?" Claus blinked and frowned. "... Maybe it'll be better protected while underwater…"

"Oh but 'Commander', if it's underwater too long, the Needle may be found easier." Doria said suddenly.

"What? How? _I_ didn't even notice it when we came here." Claus frowned in confusion."

"Because the one who can pull the Needles can sense it. They'll find it a lot easier, especially if they already pulled their first one." Doria answered.

 _So Lucas can still find it? Oh that's not good…_ "Th-then I better do something…" Claus was having trouble thinking of how to protect the Needle if it's underwater. His tired mind wasn't helping the thought process very much either.

At this, the two monkeys began talking to each other before Salsa eventually said, _"You're trying to get this glowing thing under the water? I saw some weird looking chimeras back at that crazy lab. There has to be one that should be able to move the water."_

"Really? But would the chimera be willing to help us?" Claus asked.

" _They should. They're very friendly and weren't affected by the weird red thing that corrupted the others."_ Salsa said. _"I could go get them for you while you rest for a bit."_

Claus sat down on the grass and nodded, "Y-yeah, I think that'll be a good idea. You sure you want to go back to the lab?"

" _Yeah, I think that big red chimera chased away all the Pigmasks for now, so it should be safe. I'll be back in a bit!"_ Salsa said before running off.

Claus just sat there and closed his eyes, hoping for at least a few minutes of rest before doing anything else.

* * *

" _... Clauuus… Claus…?"_

 _Hmm? … That soft voice… Mom?_ Claus opened his eyes… only to see the sunglasses wearing Magypsy was right in his face. The boy yelped and scrambled back a bit. "Wah!? Why do you insist on getting so close to me!?"

"Oh dear, am I being too invasive? Sorry~" the Magypsy didn't sound very sorry though, and just giggled. "Don't you feel that? The Needle's power, it's alluring aura~?"

"The Needle?" Claus blinked sleepily, he just thought he heard his mother's voice when he closed his eyes for a few seconds. "What about it? … Actually I'm surprised you're not questioning how I even know about these Needles or why I'm looking for them. Are you Magypsies just that trusting with people?"

"Oh, it's not like I trust _every_ cutie who happens upon my home." Doria said. "But I know I can trust you, 'Commander'. I can feel the power that you have inside of you, and the heart of purity that must dwell within a cutie like you~"

 _Oh right. Fassad did tell me Magypsies can sense what's in a person's heart, so maybe that's why she… he… it… trusts me._ "Well… uh… thank you then." Claus said with a bit of a blush.

"But you know… once you get to the Needle, why don't you take a closer look at it?" Doria suddenly suggested. "Just give it a quick touch~ I mean you've never seen a Needle before, have you?"

"Um…" Claus hesitated. "I guess I am curious what it looks like… but…"

" _I'm back!"_ The boy heard a monkey calling.

Salsa had returned, and behind him was a big red and yellow striped chimera with a… very long pump-like shape for a nose/mouth. "Uh… what kind of chimera is that?"

" _That Dr. Andonuts guy told me if I wanted to remove water from one place to another, this is the chimera to do it."_ Salsa said. _"Although he said it's pretty unimpressive, I guess he couldn't understand that's exactly what I wanted. Then again I'm impressed that he even figured out I needed to use a chimera at all since he can't understand me."_

Claus looked at the strange chimera before shrugging. "Well if it works, then go for it."

The chimera, as if on cue from Claus's word, walked over and shoved its nose/mouth in the pond containing the Needle, quickly sucking up gallon after gallon of water in the pond. To Claus's surprise, the water that was being sucked in was being poured out of the chimera's tail, into the large, empty hole next to the pond.

 _Oh… well that's convenient. I guess there's a reason why that giant hole was next to the pond. It's like it was made for this chimera._ Claus mused to himself as he continued to watch. Within a few minutes, the chimera had completely moved all the water from the hole containing the Needle to the large, empty hole that was next to it. The Needle was shining much more visibly without the water there to block its shine. A convenient ladder was located in the hole with the Needle to easily access it. With its job done, the chimera left the scene to go back to the lab.

"Whoa… so that's what a Needle looks like." The young Commander said in awe as he started at it. The golden Needle had a bright glow to it, and it was glowing more intensely at the bottom of its spire. "I guess I should start trying to protect it."

"Why don't you get a little closer to it first, 'Commander'~? I'm sure you'll want to see it up close and personal." Doria suggested.

Claus looked at the Magypsy, wondering why 'she' wanted him to go closer to it. Regardless, his curiosity did win over his sense of judgement and he began climbing down the ladder. Before the boy knew it, he was standing right in arms reach of the Needle.

* * *

 _It's beautiful… it's hard to imagine something this small could keep an island-sized dragon asleep._ The ginger haired boy thought to himself as he reached out and touched the Needle.

The boy's eyes went wide when he saw Lucas beside him suddenly, but he was transparent, like a ghost almost. And he felt like someone warm and caring was hugging him from behind. _What's going on…?_

The transparent Lucas from beside him put a hand over his shoulder before he grabbed the Needle. Claus blinked before frowning, looking at the Needle himself. _Pull the Needle? … I shouldn't pull it… but… why shouldn't I? It_ needs _to be pulled, doesn't it? Why… why didn't I want to pull it again?_ The transparent Lucas smiled at him before nodding, gesturing him to pull. He didn't even notice Doria and the monkeys had followed him down the hole and are now watching in anticipation.

Claus gave a warm smile as he felt his heart beating and his PK Love shining over his gloved hands as he began to pull. A feeling of warmth washed over him as the winged tip of the Needle flew high in the sky, accompanied by a column of bright light shining down on him and the Needle. Everything seemed to grow dark as Claus felt nothing but warmth and support from the mirage of Lucas and, although he didn't see it, Doria who was looking excitedly at Claus the entire time. The monkeys were watching the boy in keen interest.

Claus summoned the will inside of himself as he pulled, before finally the Needle had become excavated, flashing and disappearing in a burst of white sparkles above the boy. Soon after, Claus felt himself moving- no… the entire world rumbling as a large spout of red fume erupted where the Needle used to be. Claus just stood there watching and feeling the world rumble, it was as if he was in a trance, everything felt right to him despite the world trembling. The monkeys try to keep their balance, Doria looking more excited by the second, and the trees moving wildly with the rumblings as a distinct sound, almost like a heartbeat, was heard. This lasted for a few moments…

… Until after a bright flash, it all stopped, and everything was still again. Claus slowly blinked as he began snapping out of the trance, he looked down at where the Needle used to be, only to see a hole bubbling with a purple mist-like substance. Only then did the horror of what he did began to creep into his mind.

 _W-wait… what… what did I just do!? Did I just… did I just PULL that Needle!?_ Claus looked down at his gloved hands in horror before frantically looking for the Needle he had just pulled, but it's like it vanished into thin air! "Wh-what happened to the Needle!? Why- y-you're… disappearing!" Indeed, Doria's body was beginning to flicker in and out of existence.

"But of course, after the Needle is pulled the Magypsy protecting that Needle will vanish. Didn't you know that, you cute little 'Commander'~?" Doria chuckled.

"Why are you accepting this!?" Claus couldn't believe that Doria was HAPPY at the fact 'she's' going to be gone soon. "W-what happened to the Needle!?" _M-maybe I can put it back if I can just find it!_

The Magypsy just giggled, as if 'she' hadn't a care at 'her' soon-to-be fate. "Oh silly, I've known for a while that the time had come for the Needles to be pulled after that first one was pulled. I was expecting a certain other cute boy, almost like you, to come along to pull my precious Needle. But you came along and I couldn't help but notice the heart of purity that was inside you, and… oh I just couldn't resist~!"

"Wh-what?" It took a minute for Claus to process that. "Y-you _knew_? You knew I could use PK Love and _tricked_ me into pulling the Needle!?"

"All I said for you to do was to touch it. You pulled it yourself, and I'm glad you did. Now we're one step closer to a much better world~." Doria said with a big grin.

 _I don't understand… why did I pull it!? The whole reason we Pigmasks even exist was to rebuild the world with our OWN hands! By pulling that Needle I had just basically_ betrayed _them all!_ Claus thought in horror and self loathing.

"By the way… since I'll be gone now, why don't you hold on to this to remember little ol' me by~? And if you happen to find a blond-haired boy who looks just like you, tell him 'good-bye!' for me!" Doria said as 'she' put some eyeliner make up into the boy's hands, who was still in too much horror with himself to really move.

The horrified boy could only watch as Doria gave him one last smile before 'her' body disappeared in some sparkles, never to be seen again. As soon as Doria was gone, Claus fell to his knees, still holding on to the memento 'she' gave to him. _What have I done?_

" _Lucas? Are you okay?"_ Salsa asked the boy in concern.

"... I'll… I'll be fine… You and Samba better go now, I think the Pigmasks will come looking in this area after that light show and earthquake." Claus said to them, trying to sound calm.

" _A-are you sure?"_ Samba asked in concern for him.

"Y-yeah, you better go now." Claus said, though he mostly wanted to be alone to contemplate his next move after what he just did.

Salsa gave a nod before turning to Samba. _"We better go now. I'm sure Lucas will be fine."_

" _Okay… Bye Lucas, I hope you feel better!"_ And with that, the two monkeys went off with each other, leaving Claus to stare at the misty hole he made.

 _I can't believe I just pulled the Needle. I came here for the sole purpose of PROTECTING it from BEING pulled and I just… ugh… I can't BELIEVE myself! I should've let that stuffed frog 'save' me, at least then I could kill myself and be back in the lab like I never pulled the Needle to begin with and erase this horrible,_ horrible _mistake I made! I've decided I'm not going to sleep another night, it's the least I could do for betraying the Pigmask Army and bringing the world closer to the end. I'm going to have to find the next Needle and make SURE I protect it this time to make up for my indescribable traitorous action… but first… I need to have a little talk with Locria. That is after I pick up my new helmet from Dr. Andonuts._

Claus put away the memento into his jacket pocket before he curled his hands into fists, silently cursing his own PK Love for the first time since he discovered it three years ago.

 **End of Part 3**


	24. Chapter 24: The Long Road

**DarkFoxKit: *was deep in concentration with a drawing tablet and staring at the comic she was making* Yes… yes… perfect… OwO *eyes were a little bloodshot, and had some bags under her eyes***

 **Donfyre: *slowly walks in front of her in concern* Er… Fox? *waves my tail in front of her* … Fooooooox? I know it's cool you got your drawing tablet and all… but you're starting to worry me. You, uh… do know we have something to do right now, right? You don't really look like you're in the… best shape for it. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: *blinks before looking at Fyre* Oh hi Fyre! What time is it? … Eh? What do you mean we have to do something now?**

 **Donfyre: *tilts my head at her* Fox… When was the last time you looked at a clock?**

 **DarkFoxKit: I dunno… a few hours ago?**

 **Donfyre: … Then you know today's AN day, riiiiight? ^^; *tilts her head in the direction of the camera***

 **DarkFoxKit: … What? WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S TODAY!? HOLY MACARONI! *pushes the camera and Fyre away and out the door as she hastily tried to put away the computer and cleaning up stuff. Then opens the door and gives a big smile* HELLO DEAR READERS!? ARE YOU EXCITED FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!? Cause it kinda feels like it's been going slow lately. -_-'**

 **Donfyre: *sweatdrops* Er… one, they kinda already saw you doing all that, Fox. ^^; Though I have to agree with the last part, seems like everything's been going slow with the story lately… But hey, Lucas chapter here! And a quite a few antics… Which you'll see. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Now let's get into the reviews and be on our way! I gotta continue my comics! … Even if nobody really reads them!**

 **Donfyre: Hey, I still read them, if that counts! ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Thanks. ^^' *mutters* Though I would like a general audience than just one person… *pouts* ANYWAYS!**

 **Shimo no ko : Yeeeeah… well in the game he's pulling them anyways, so it doesn't really matter. But here all of it matters, poor Claus. TwT He never gets a break, does he? Not when I'm controlling his life! Hee, hee, hee~**

 **Donfyre: The girl loves to torture the poor boy. Not sure why, but she does. XP**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: Yep, that's basically the premise concerning the Magypsies in this fanfic! And nice to know that the story's keeping you on edge of your seat.**

 **DarkFoxKit: You can't deny that causing angst for your favs isn't fun!**

 **Connor the speling pro: Heh, told ya Fyre. :P**

 **The Pigmasks truly believe what they're doing is the right thing to do, even if it's unethical. Perhaps in Tazmily's eyes it's considered unnatural and evil, but to the Pigmasks it's something they feel they HAVE to do in order to rebuild the world. After all 'no pain, no gain'. But hey, I'm fine with people thinking they're the villains, it keeps them on their toes for poor Clausy-poo. :3**

 **The reason why Claus pulled the Needle is actually explained in this chapter, but if you still would like a direct answer, ask me again after you read this chapter.**

 **Donfyre: You're having a lot of question for how our story might turn out and what motives are underlying. Gooood, gooood! The story's inciting discussion. c: And thanks for pointing out that it isn't just me. ^^;**

 **FanofFiction123 : Surprised that Claus did that, huh? Nice to know how surprised you were. XP**

 **That's alright, we were just a little off put that the entire review last time went off on a whole tangent. ^^;**

 **Speaking of going off on a tangent, you're getting into Undertale now? That's goooood, but… PLEASE PLAY THE GAME INSTEAD OF LOOKING AT SPOILERS! DX**

 **Er… a-anyways, hope you like what we have in store for this chapter and the rest of this part!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Undertale is more fun playing completely blind, trust me on this. Anyways, looks like that's all the reviews. So shall we wrap this up?**

 **Donfyre: Huh… that was pretty quick. Again. ^^; Alright then, let's wrap it up!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Good~ *wraps up Fyre with a thick blanket* Comfy?**

 **Donfyre: H-huh? Hey! DX *squirms around* What's this for?!**

 **DarkFoxKit: To keep you nice and warm tonight~ *lays over the burrito Wooper* Well readers, we hope to hear from you soon. I am DarkFoxKit, my burrito friend here is Donfyre!**

 **Donfyre: Urk! *squirms under her* Burrito friend!? J-just wrap up the AN already before I get humiliated further! DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: It's already wrapped up, nice and tight into a soft blanket~ *smiles***

 **Donfyre: F-Foooooox! *pouts* _I'll_ wrap it up if you don't! *gets ready to use Water Gun on the camera***

 **DarkFoxKit: *Snickers* You sure are wrapped up! All nice and warm! XD *the camera was suddenly covered in water and shut off***

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: *comes back on* Hmm? Oh hey Orangeflight!**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan : Busy schedules sucks, don't they? ^^'**

 **What? Mother 3 is going to be on the e-shop in Japan!? Come ooooon! I want to see that HERE in AMERICA! DX**

 **All of Salsa's dialogue or some specific ones that tickles your funny bone?**

 **Yeah, can't have Claus losing his head too. ^^'**

 **Weeeeell Salsa hadn't seen Lucas in a while, so it's possible his memory of Lucas is a bit distorted right now, he just knows Claus looks very familiar and similar enough to Lucas that it was enough to convince him he is Lucas. Besides, I know Pigmasks tend to be idiots in the game, but even they mistook Lucas for their Commander... somehow... at least I had them note that his hair is different. Besides, if you color Lucas's hair orange and give him Claus's clothes, it's pretty easy to mistake them at first glance.**

 **Carrot sunflower, still love that nickname you gave Claus. XD And Claus grew to really care for the Pigmasks like family, so of course he wanted to help them when he heard they were having trouble at Thunder Tower, too bad that came back and bite him in the butt.**

 **Salsa took over for Boney for chasing Dr. Andonuts in a ticked off manner. It'd be so cool to see the stories I did in a game format, too bad that's never going to happen. :'(**

 **Hah... I thought it was funny Dr. Andonuts hide in the trash can. XD**

 **Err... good luck destroying something that can't be destroyed. ^^'**

 **Poor Claus, the Needle pulled him in and now he's traumatized. DX**

 **Short? Seems decently long to me. ^^'**

 **How can you say for sure what they're doing is wrong? Just because it looks immoral and unnatural doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong. Murdering people is wrong, yes, but what if you killed someone in self defense? Kill or be killed. That's kinda what's going through the Pigmask's minds. They don't like doing these things either, but it's either that or everyone dies due to either the dragon or until the lack of resources of the ruined world kills them. It's not really something you can see as right or wrong or black and white so easily. That's the whole point of this story; make you think, is rebuilding the world as well as messing with nature the right way or is rebirthing it as well as risk killing everyone off the better way? Both sides have a pro and con, so pick your poison.**

 **Why is it so fun to be sadistic to our characters? ^^'**

 **Gotta love those frogs. And of course Claus cares for their lives, unlike in the game he actually has a heart here. Well I think he still does have a heart in the game too, otherwise the ending wouldn't have ended the way it did, it's just buried.**

 **Yup, hard to say who's in the right here, huh?**

 **Interesting choice, cause both Fyre and I want to be a Charmander with Chikorita for our partner. ^^' I also like Bulbasaur or Treecko.**

 **Maybe, or maybe they have a thing for Lucas too? ^^'**

 **Rereading the earlier chapters does get tedious though.**

 **We miss your reviews too! I'm sure Fyre would like to talk to you again soon.**

 **Pressuring people is apparently all my parents know how to do.**

 **Thanks again for the review!**

 **Donfyre:** **"WAIT, FOX! Before you finish, I wanna say something really quick... Hiiiiya, Orangeflight! c: ... Okay, that's all I have to say, since I haven't responded to one of your reviews in a while. Alright, I'm finished Fox! :P poofs away "**

 **DarkFoxKit: ... Errr... enjoy the story...?**

* * *

 **Chapter 24: The Long Road**

 _After I had pulled Aeolia's Needle, we came back to 'her' house to find 'her' body was flickering in and out of existence. 'She' told me 'she' was happy that the time had finally come and that 'she's' counting on me to pull the rest of the Needles. 'She' soon disappeared and left 'her' black eyeliner. Kumatora told me to keep it with me as this memento could save my life one day. Knowing that Magypsies are mysterious and powerful, I took the memento with me. I felt very sad that Aeolia was gone now… but at least 'she' was happy before 'she' disappeared. I felt like a part of me got stronger, but I was sure it was my imagination and didn't bother to mention this yet. We decided to get on the train and start looking for the Needles starting from where the Clayman Factory was. I didn't have the heart to say good-bye to Dad face-to-face, so I had a messenger pigeon give him my letter, explaining that I have an important mission to do and I'll be back soon and to tell Claus not to worry if he ever comes home._

* * *

Lucas, Kumatora, Duster and Boney were sleeping at an Inn for a well deserved rest after walking around the forest near where the Clayman Factory and Club Titiboo are. They decided to sleep for the day before continuing the hunt for the next Needle, when suddenly an unnatural but familiar earthquake woke them up.

Boney was the first one, his head quickly perking up at the sudden rumbling, before making a low whine and jumping on Lucas's bed. _"Hey, hey, Lucas! There's something weird going on, it sounds like an earthquake."_

Lucas groaned as Boney pawed at the sheets, but he too quickly sat up when he felt the rumblings outside. "H-huh…? What is…?"

By this time, both Kumatora and Duster had awoken from their beds too, and the pink-haired girl said to Lucas, "Hey, be quiet. This isn't a normal earthquake… don't you hear that with these tremors?"

Indeed, there was that beating that sounded like a heartbeat that caused the earth to tremble. The entire place had some psychedelic lights before it all stopped suddenly, just like when Lucas pulled the Needle.

"What was that?" Duster asked when everything settled down.

"I-I don't know… did someone pull a Needle?" Lucas asked. "This kind of earthquake only happened when I pulled a Needle."

"But nobody else we know could possibly pull the Needles… except for maybe the Pigsnot's Commander, but why would he pull the Needles? Last I checked they were against awakening the Dark Dragon." Kumatora said with some confusion of her own.

" _You think someone else out there could have PK Love too?"_ Boney asked.

"That can't be… PK Love is rare and legendary for a reason," Kumatora said. "In fact I'm actually surprised there exists another person in this generation who can even use it. Now if he was Claus maybe I could get by that since twins could inherit the same core of PSI. Even if he were to learn completely different PSI you both would still be able to use PK Love at the very core of your beings, but otherwise…"

"Claus…? Wait… what if Claus was the one who pulled the Needle?" Lucas suggested.

"What? I thought you said your brother _couldn't_ use PSI," Duster said confused.

"Yeah, but…" Lucas paused for a moment and thought back to all the times he's ever talked to Claus on the subject of PSI. Lucas was never able to feel any aura of PSI from Claus, and even Kumatora had the same results. Still though… he was able to go into Lucas's Magicant multiple times, and he would sometimes even act strangely when asked about PSI, usually brushing the topic aside or changing it completely. He wondered if Claus was hiding something about it… and deep inside he kind of hoped that he was.

"But… what, Lucas?" Kumatora said, snapping Lucas out of his thoughts as she awaited an answer.

"Oh, um… nothing. I guess Claus _could_ probably use PSI…" Lucas said hesitantly.

"But we never sensed Claus having PSI aura or any potential of using PSI at all," Kumatora argued. "Why would you guess your brother could?"

" _I don't know… Claus did seem to be able to understand some of the stuff I was saying,"_ Boney mentioned. _"But I could never tell if he could or couldn't understand me directly or if Lucas told him what I said before."_

"And besides…" Duster added. "Didn't you say your brother also works for the Pigmasks? Why would he want to go against them and pull the Needles too?"

"I… I don't know… but something about those Needles really made me want to pull them," Lucas answered. "So maybe when Claus or the Commander got too close he forgot why he didn't want to pull them and pulled it?"

At this, the entire party stayed silent for a while. Only Lucas knew how it really felt to pull a Needle, the sense of urgency and will that he _had_ to pull it.

"... I guess there's not really much use just standing here talking about it," Kumatora eventually said, shaking her head. "It's not like we'll really find out anything about it anyways until we go find out for ourselves." she looked outside, seeing the sun just now peeking over the horizon. "It looks like morning just got here. We should keep heading to Doria's Needle."

All four of them knew that there was the possibility that the Needle pulled _was_ Doria's. They just hoped that wouldn't be the case when they got there.

"Kumatora, you've been to Doria's house before, right? Couldn't you just teleport us there?" Lucas suggested.

"Do you really want me to teleport us there?" Kumatora asked him.

"No, no, I think walking is just fine," Duster quickly said, remembering how sick he was when they teleported the first time.

"Besides, Doria's Needle isn't too far from here," The pink-haired Princess said. "Just follow me, we'll get there soon."

* * *

 _And so we followed Kumatora through the forest place. There were a lot of… interesting chimeras around here, like the Pigtunia and the… Horseantula- I don't even want to know what they were thinking with that one. The chimeras were pretty hostile, so we had to fight them off a bit. In just a few minutes, thankfully, Kumatora reached a big hole in a mountainside wall._

"Wait what? What happened to the door?" Kumatora said in shock, seeing the passageway was already open. "How were they able to open it? They would need a secret dance that only old man Wess and that cute monkey Salsa should know about!"

"If Doria's door is open…" Lucas began to say. "Does that mean her… his… Needle was pulled?"

Kumatora didn't say anything, but she just quickly ran through the passageway, coming out to a small clearing with a familiar sea-shell shaped house behind two large holes, one full of water and the other… a familiar looking crater was seen in the ground of the other hole.

"The Needle…" Kumatora said to herself, before running towards the house in the back of the clearing. The other three quickly followed her as she burst through the door. "Doria?"

There was nobody home, no trace of life anywhere. Lucas, Duster and Boney looked around the place before they heard what sounded like a loud splash outside. The group looked out the window, but didn't see anything other than the hole filled with water looking a little rippled like someone fell in or jumped out.

"What was that?" Duster asked.

"Probably just a big fish or something. Forget about it, we have more important matters to look into!" Kumatora said quickly.

Lucas went back outside, looking down in the crater, seeing a hole left there that had the same kind of bubbling mist-like substance from the hole where the Needle once was when he pulled it. "I think… Doria's Needle was pulled."

Boney walked over beside Lucas and began sniffing the air before he barked. _"I smell monkeys, one of them is Salsa! He was here, maybe he was helping the one who pulled the Needle to get here."_

"Can you smell who was the one who pulled it, Boney?" Lucas asked, sounding hopeful all of a sudden.

But Boney only shook his head and let out a whine. _"No… I can only smell chemicals in the air. I guess whoever it was wanted to keep their scent hidden."_

"Chemicals?" Lucas thought about the Commander when Boney mentioned that, but he find it hard to believe that the Commander would pull the Needle. Still, the possibility is there.

Lucas frowned as he stared at the misty hole, he couldn't help but be reminded what happened just after he pulled Aeolia's Needle… not only did he feel a bit freer than he had in years after he did so, he felt like his inner being got stronger if that made any sense. Looking at his hand, he summoned a small part of PK Love on it, watching it spark a bit as he heard Kumatora and Duster coming over to them.

"So whatcha find, Lucas?" Kumatora asked. She seemed slightly annoyed with herself and maybe even a little down, if that was possible for her.

"I think the Needle was pulled," Lucas said at first.

"Yeah, no duh. Anything _else_ you found out, detective?"

The boy frowned at Kumatora's sarcastic and even somewhat harsh tone. "W-well… I think the Commander's the one who pulled it. Boney said he could only smell chemicals in the air near where the Needle was pulled, and only the Commander had that same smell."

"I figured the Pigsnot's Commander may be the one behind it. You and him are the only ones- that we know of- who can use PK Love." Kumatora frowned. "But why would he go through all the trouble of removing the water, putting it in a different crater and then pulling the Needle? Is he secretly against the Pigsnots?"

Lucas had to try to not laugh whenever Kumatora called the Pigmasks 'Pigsnots'. "Um… Maybe Doria wanted him to pull it?"

" _Wanted_ him to pull it?!" Kumatora said, outrage clear in her voice. "I doubt that there's an _ounce_ of good in the Commander of those da-!"

Lucas just interrupted her and kept speaking. "All I can say is when I was near the Needle I just knew I _had_ to pull it… someone who has less control over their PK Love like the Commander may not be able to resist such an urge."

"That's a scary thought," Duster commented. Kumatora grumbled but didn't argue with his reasoning.

"Yeah… and speaking of PK Love…" Lucas hesitated, feeling a bit silly and paranoid for wanting to say this. "Um… I'm not sure how to describe it… but it felt like… it got… _stronger_ if that's the right word, after I pulled Aeolia's Needle and it's been bugging me since."

Kumatora, who still looked slightly annoyed, raised an eyebrow at the boy. It looks like he caught her attention, and at the very least it put her out of that foul mood she had just earlier. "It got stronger? Oh, yeah, the Magypsies told me about that. They say that PK Love grows stronger as one pulls more Needles. You pulled one Needle, Lucas, so I think you'd be at… beta level now."

"Beta level?" Lucas looked at in surprised. "Wow… I didn't even realize that PK Love had levels like that!"

"Yup, before it was only in the alpha stage." Kumatora told him.

"I didn't think about that. I mean after seeing the Commander's PK Love explode like that… well I didn't see it, I was unconscious, but the way you described it… was that an omega level?" Lucas knew that the 'omega' level was the highest level of all PSI.

"Well… I don't think that was a level…" Kumatora hesitated. "See, levels are PSI that are controlled by the user. That was a wild burst of raw PSI so I wouldn't count that as a 'level', but it's scary to think how powerful an omega PK Love could be."

"Oh… yeah, that would be scary…" Lucas said. To himself, he wondered just how _he'd_ be able to use such a powerful PSI if he kept at it pulling these Needles. He was always so used to using supportive PSI that the prospect of using something like a PK Love Omega scared even him. PK Love Alpha was already pretty strong, he can't imagine how much stronger it would be now that it's in the beta level. "Wait a minute… so if the Commander pulled the Needle… does that mean he can use PK Love Beta too?"

"... So we checked out this place, and it looks like the Pigmasks managed to pull the Needle already, whatever reason they had for doing it." Duster said, after a moment of silence pervaded the air from Lucas's question and the possibility that the Pigmask's Commander was getting stronger. "Now what do we do? Keep moving?"

"Yes, we need to get to the next Needle as soon as possible." Kumatora said. "If, for whatever reason, the Pigsnots decided to let their Commander pull the Needles then we need to be the first to get there. I don't trust that Commander to not destroy the world with the Dragon's power."

" _Um… but do you even know where the other Needles are?"_ Boney asked Kumatora.

The PSI girl frowned as she crossed her arms and tapped her foot. "Um… well… I do know that most of them are far away… and getting there would be quite the challenge…"

"So what should we do?" Lucas asked. "The Commander could fly you know… I think… I heard he could fly from what Claus told me about him."

"Well then we better hurry before the Pigsnots find out where the rest of the Needles are!" Kumatora said urgently.

"But we don't even know where to begin looking." Duster spoke up.

* * *

Boney suddenly began barking and growled a bit, catching everyone's attention. "What's wrong, Boney?" Lucas asked his loyal friend.

" _I smell a mole cricket,"_ Boney growled.

As if on cue, a little black bug hopped to them. It seemed to be studying the group for a second before it pointed at Lucas. "Ah! You! I remember you! You and that other boy beat me before! Well I've been training hard these past three years and I demand a rematch!"

"What?" Duster looked at it. "Did that cricket thing just _talk_?"

"Wait, it knows you, Lucas?" Kumatora asked, looking at the blond haired boy in curiosity.

"W-well I uh…" Lucas frowned a bit, having trouble remembering any mole crickets he's met. "... might've… met him before."

"Whaaaa?" the Mole Cricket said in an exaggerated shock… or maybe he really was shocked. "You don't remember? Me! That Mole Cricket! Ooh, you two were so little back then, and _still_ you got me! Every day I've been training since then, waiting for a chance to finally test my skills again, and lo and behold, here you are again! It's almost like fate!" The little bug hopped around as he spoke, obviously very fired up with whatever grudge he had against Lucas.

"I'm still in shock that the bug can talk," Duster said, staring at the Mole Cricket. "This must be what it's like to have PSI and talk to animals…"

Lucas frowned as he looked at the Mole Cricket, he didn't really remember seeing him but he felt bad that the Mole Cricket obviously remembered him and apparently Claus and have been wanting to 'rematch' them for something. "Uh… okay, if you want to fight me so badly… we can fight." Lucas didn't really want to fight, but he wanted to make the little bug happy. That, and there really wasn't much else to do if they didn't know where exactly the other Needles were yet.

"Good! Now you follow me to the Mole Cricket Hole, that is where we will settle things!" The Mole Cricket said, sounding excited as it began walking. "Come on, keep up!"

"Are you sure we have time to waste on this thing?" Kumatora said impatiently to Lucas. "We have a Needle to find."

"W-well I obviously made a promise to him, so the least I should do is keep it." Lucas said to her. "Besides, maybe he could help us out, you never know right?"

"Riiiight. Sure Lucas, let's have the little bug help us find a worldly important life-staking Needle. Who knows, it might actually get us somewhere." Kumatora grumbled, but still obliged to follow the Mole Cricket along with the rest of the group. They followed the little bug, all a little unsure of why they were doing this, or if they should, but they had no other leads to follow.

Eventually, the now group of five made it to a hole near a large waterfall, not too far east of the Chimera Lab and the ropeway that led up to Club Titiboo. "Here we are, my humble abode! Just follow me down here…" the Mole Cricket jumped down into the hole as the Lucas looked at the others in his group.

"Um… so are you guys ready to jump down a hole?" Lucas asked them.

"I can't believe we're doing this," Kumatora growled.

"Hey… maybe this could be fun," Duster said after hesitating a bit.

" _Now that's the deepest hole I've ever seen. I'd like to see what's down there,"_ Boney replied.

With that said, the group began climbing down one by one. Duster down first, then Kumatora, and then Boney. Lucas began crawling down when he noticed a frog was hopping out of the water and noticed him. The two blinked at each other before the frog continued on its way. Lucas watched it go before wondering if that could've been one of those save frogs Kumatora mentioned before, but he just shrugged before continuing down the into the hole.

* * *

When they all made it to the bottom it was surprisingly bright underground, and the floor was glowing a nice purple color. There were several Mole Crickets living here, and these strange lotus roots that Lucas could swear had a face. The group kept walking, following the Mole Cricket that brought them here, until he stopped beside what appears to be an old Mole Cricket laying on a small ragged blanket.

"Elder Cricket! I've finally brought worthy adversaries to test my strength and skill against!" the Mole Cricket said, looking like he revered the other cricket in front of him. As if this situation couldn't get any weirder.

"Oh, I see then," the other mole cricket, 'Elder Cricket' said, staring at the group of four. "So you four are the ones brave enough to fight the strongest Mole Cricket of our home here?"

"Uh… sure, yeah," Lucas said, nodding his head. He wasn't sure how powerful a tiny little bug like this Mole Cricket could be, but he didn't want to sound rude or cocky. Besides, he's seen a ton of strange creatures already that were surprisingly powerful, he didn't think he should underestimate this bug.

"Alright, so we're going to set up some rules," The Mole Cricket said. "If the battle goes on for ten minutes and there's no winner, then we will go for overtime and add an additional five minutes, if there's still no winner by then the Elder Cricket will judge and choose a winner. Does that sound good to you?"

"Yeah I guess so," Lucas said, frowning a bit. _How strong is he?_

The Elder Cricket seemed a bit nervous about something before he said to the group of four, "Take my advice: sometimes it's just better to run away."

"Run away? Why would we run away!? We are not going to run from a _bug,_ " Kumatora hissed, feeling insulted just by the suggestion of it.

"I'm sure we can take him on," Duster said with a sigh.

" _Um… is this really going to take that long?"_ Boney frowned.

Lucas felt a little nervous when the Elder Cricket told them they should just run away. _This Mole Cricket must be really strong then. We shouldn't underestimate him just because he's small._

"Alright, here I come!" The Mole Cricket ran at Lucas and tackled the boy's forehead.

Lucas barely even felt that and went a little crossed-eye as he looked at the Mole Cricket that slide down on his nose, wondering if that was just a joke tackle. The Mole Cricket didn't seem to think so as it landed on the ground. "Ha! Had enough yet or do you want some more?"

The Mole Cricket jumped to tackle the boy again, and Lucas just held out his hand and flicked the bug into the wall, almost immediately rendering it unconscious. "Uh… was that really it?"

"Hah… hah… Pretty tough aren't you? Too bad you just used your strongest attack though, 'cause I've still got some things coming!" the Mole Cricket said with confidence, managing to scuttle its way back to confront the group of four.

 _My strongest attack…?_ Lucas thought, frowning in concern. If this bug thought _that_ was his strongest attack… he's afraid to think what would happen to the poor Mole Cricket if he _did_ use his strongest attack. _Does he think we're play fighting?_

Lucas saw Duster, Kumatora and Boney ready to attack… or rather probably squash, burn or eat the poor bug. The boy quickly put his arms in front of them and said, "W-wait a minute guys, I uh… I want to handle this on my own, okay?"

"What? This bug dragged us here just to fight, I'm not backing down now!" Kumatora snapped.

"J-just let me handle this, okay Kumatora?" Lucas pleaded with her with his eyes and subtle puppy dog pout.

The hotheaded princess frowned slightly but then sighed, "Fine, but make it quick Lucas."

Lucas closed his eyes as he sighed in relief before he felt a breeze hit his forehead… wait, they're underground. The boy opened his eyes and saw the Mole Cricket had tackled him again. "Oh yeah, I've got you on the ropes now!"

The Mole Cricket jumped at him again before Lucas just grabbed him in his hand and began tickling the bug into submission.

"W-what? What is this new form of fighting?!" the Mole Cricket cried out loud, squirming in the boy's hand.

 _Hopefully this gets it to stop fighting… I don't want to accidentally kill this little thing._ Lucas thought as he just continued to tickle the Mole Cricket. With the way it was squirming and shouting, it probably thought it was being hurt. _… Does this little bug not know what 'tickling' is?_

"Ah- Ahaha! I-I submit! Stop this form of torture!" the little bug eventually begged after a few seconds passed of Lucas tickling the bug.

Lucas sighed in relief before putting the bug down beside the Elder Cricket. "Well looks like we won." The blond haired boy smiled.

" _What? You didn't even fight him! You just tickled the stupid thing!"_ Boney barked.

"You want to be tickled next, Boney?" Lucas frowned at him before Boney let out a whimper and shook his head.

* * *

"Hey… uh…" The Elder Cricket spoke up. "Thanks for not… hurting him. I guess we Mole Crickets aren't so strong after all. By the way, is there anything we can do for you?"

Kumatora frowned a bit before she said, "Actually there is. We're looking for a Needle that will awaken the Dark Dragon's powers, have you seen any of them anywhere?"

"Uh…" The Mole Cricket frowned. "We aren't very knowledgeable about things like that, but maybe you might find out more about that mysterious object on the mountain of the other side of the Mole Cricket Hole."

"A mountain?" Lucas repeated, looking at Kumatora. "Does that ring a bell?"

"Well… I know Lydia has a house located on a mountain. This might actually be our Needle… surprisingly," Kumatora said, not willing to admit that fighting this weak little bug actually helped give a lead on where they needed to go next.

"Well then, perhaps we could give you some help on your way," Elder Cricket said. "If a lotus root is in your way, just give a whistle and we Mole Crickets will have it removed faster than you can say lotus root."

"Um, thanks," Lucas said. "So… just at the other side of this hole and we should find the exit?"

"I must warn you guys… this place is a lot bigger than it looks. You could very easily get lost," The Mole Cricket warned them. "You might want to-"

"We'll be fine, I'm sure we can find our way through this hole," Kumatora said, tapping her foot impatiently. "We can't waste anymore time, let's go."

"Uh… sorry about Kumatora, she's just really hasty," Lucas apologized to the two Mole Crickets. "Anyways that was a fun battle, so I hope you… uh… live longer and all. Bye!" The boy hurried after Kumatora. Duster and Boney just shrugged as they followed the two PSI users into the hole.

 _We whistled whenever a lotus root was in the way and several mole crickets came and gobbled it up in a few seconds flat… although… I could've sworn that the root had a face and it was crying out in horror as it was being eaten away… I uh… really hope that was only my imagination. Anyways we continued moving through the Mole Cricket Hole… and soon we were pretty much overwhelmed with all the different paths. We had no idea which way we were going and it felt like we've been wandering around this place for hours… I think it HAS been hours, I've lost track of time. I felt tired and my feet were killing me, Boney looked like he's just sleeping walking behind me at this point. Duster kept limping along and Kumatora… well… let's just say she's ready to crack at any moment…_

The group came across another dead end. "AAAARGH! HOW CAN _ANYONE_ FIND THEIR WAY IN THIS IMPOSSIBLE MAZE OF AN UNDERGROUND!?" Kumatora shouted angrily.

"C-calm down, Kumatora!" Lucas said nervously.

She didn't seem to notice or care though, and continued to vent her anger. "How come the _ONLY_ time that stupid cricket gives us a warning _IT'S ACTUALLY TRUE?!_ "

Boney just gave a tired whine and Duster was trying to calm her down. "N-now Kumatora… just calm down… I'm sure we'll be able to find a way out of here."

"SCREW THIS! I am PK Thundering our way out of this endless hole!" Kumatora snapped. "PK-"

Lucas quickly grabbed her arm and yelled, "No Kumatora! Please calm down, this is the Mole Cricket's home… please don't wreck it."

The boy could see the dangerous sparks flying from Kumatora's hand, ready to launch out at a moment's notice. "Why not?! We've been walking around here for _FOREVER!_ You think we're gonna find the exit at this rate?! There's not enough room to run for PK Teleport either!"

A small Mole Cricket walked past them when he heard all the shouting. "Excuse me… if you're looking for the way out, just take a turn over there, it should lead you outside."

"What?" Lucas blinked and noticed a small path leading left and to a vine leading up. "A-are you sure?"

"Of course I am. I live here after all. Ah, you must be the guys my big brother was talking about. I hope you find what you're looking for." The Mole Cricket said before walking away.

Kumatora twitched and looked like she was on the verge of obliterating everything within a mile of her. She tried to calm down and took large, deep breaths. "Okay… exit's right there… _Let's go._ "

Duster and Boney wisely stayed behind Lucas while he stayed a good inch or two away from the angry PSI girl until she cooled down. The group of four climbed up the vine and… they were still underground.

"THAT'S IT! I AM TAKING THIS PLACE DOWN!" Kumatora screamed.

"W-wait Kumatora!" Lucas quickly yelled. "Look! There's only a straightforward line from here and I can feel a breeze. We're close to being outside!"

"We better, because if I don't see sunlight and feel the wind soon I'm going to go crazy!" Kumatora growled.

Lucas wondered if Kumatora was claustrophobic, it might explain why she's acting this way, even for Kumatora this was getting way out of hand.

* * *

The group climbed up the vines again and… there was white and cold everywhere. They came out of the hole and breathed in the fresh cold air.

"Is this snow?" Lucas asked when he looked around.

Kumatora looked around before she smiled. "Yes! We're getting close to Lydia's Needle! And best of all WE ARE FINALLY OUT OF THAT WRETCHED UNDERGROUND HOLE!"

Lucas turned to Duster and Boney while Kumatora was busy praising her sweet freedom. "What do you guys think? Is it wise to climb a mountain full of snow like this? I'm not even wearing long sleeves and I might freeze if we stay out here too long."

 _"Why are you so worried? You've got a girl who can shoot fire from her hands to keep you warm,"_ Boney pointed out.

"I'm sure Kumatora can keep you warm with her fire," Duster commented, having the same idea as Boney.

"I'd rather not have her burn my clothes and skin off thank you," Lucas grumbled. "And besides, I'm willing to bet there are creatures living up here who aren't too friendly with strangers. I'm just a little worried we might be a little in way over our heads. We're not exactly 100% after all that walking underground either, I can feel my own PSI running low due to hunger and exhaustion and I can only assume the same goes for Kumatora."

"Wait seriously?" Duster frowned. "I think we packed some food didn't we?"

"We did, but I rather save them for a battle. The food can help save our lives believe it or not," Lucas said. "For now let's just try our best to hold out until we absolutely need it."

"If you say so, Lucas," The middle aged man said with some hesitance.

"Hey guys! Why are you so slow? Come on let's go already!" The three heard Kumatora calling for them, and saw she was already climbing up the slopes and waiting for them.

"We're coming Kumatora!" Lucas called and sighed, not looking forward to hiking this snowy mountain.

The group passed by some Snowmen that seemed as happy as one could be. Lucas was shivering, he wished he was a snowman right now, at least then this cold wouldn't be giving him hypothermia. The boy tried not to let his coldness show too much as he feared Kumatora would accidentally burn him with her PK Fire.

The group walked up the slopes, though Lucas was having trouble not falling or slipping from the slippery ice. Boney helped supported him with his face from behind, using his claws to keep them from sliding back.

"T-t-t-thanks b-boy," Lucas said gratefully to his dog.

" _Maybe I should stick close to you, you look like you could use some body heat,"_ Boney whined softly as he nuzzled near the freezing boy.

"You're cold, Lucas? Maybe I can help warm you up," Kumatora said as she looked at the freezing boy in concern.

"N-no, I-I'll be f-f-fine," Lucas quickly told her.

"Are you sure, Lucas? You look really cold." Kumatora frowned in concern at him. "My inner PSI Fire keeps me warm but maybe you could use some of it."

Before Lucas could answer there was a sudden noise in the sky, almost like something was falling or soaring. The group all heard it and were looking around for the noise before Duster suddenly pointed up. "Up there!"

The other three looked up and saw what appeared to be a missile and it flew over them and into the side of the mountain, causing a small quake and a rather mediocre explosion.

"I've seen the Pigsnots fire lots of missiles before, but... that was the most disappointing missile I ever saw," Kumatora commented.

Lucas frowned a bit as he continued looking at the mountain side the missile weakly blew up… then to his horror, saw the huge snow sliding off of it and causing more and more snow to fall and coming in their direction in a dangerous quantity. "Uh… Kumatora… I don't think that missile was made to destroy anything directly exactly..."

"Oh shi- RUN!" Kumatora all but screamed.

The other three didn't need anymore prompting as they quickly ran in the opposite direction from the incoming avalanche that was now chasing them. Lucas was trying to grab someone's hand so they wouldn't get separated, but it soon became apparent to him that he was the slowest of the group because Boney, Duster and Kumatora were all running too far ahead of him and he could barely keep up, it also didn't help that his legs were half frozen.

"G-GUYS! W-WAIT UP!" Lucas shouted, hoping they would hear him over the loud avalanche that was catching up to them at an alarming rate.

Only Duster slowed down when he realized the little blond haired boy wasn't with them, he turned back to see Lucas was staggering too far behind them. The middle aged man let Kumatora and Boney run ahead as he stopped to let Lucas catch up before taking the boy's hand. "Come on!" And began dragging the slower boy to try and escape the avalanche that was just over them.

Lucas gasped when he saw there was no way they could escape before the avalanche buried him and Duster. _This is all my fault… if I wasn't so slow we'd be able to get away… but now I just doomed both myself and Duster! At least Kumatora and Boney got away…_

* * *

"Duster!" Lucas yelled as the avalanche began its attempt to swallow them up. Lucas felt Duster pulling him closer to him and he covered Lucas with both of his arms… the boy remembered his mother did the same with him and Claus when they were attacked by the Mecha Drago… _No, I can't let this happen again!_

"SHIELD!" Lucas immediately covered both of them with a psychic barrier just as the avalanche covered the two.

Lucas held onto Duster as tight as he could while trying to concentrate on keeping the shield up. They had no control where they go as the avalanche tossed and turned them under the thick layers of snow and rocks. Duster noticed the barrier protecting them and didn't dare to let go of Lucas. Lucas felt dizzy from both the avalanche tossing them aside and keeping the shield up to protect them from being completely buried. The boy shut his eyes as he struggled to concentrate, he could already feel the shield flickering, he had to keep it up but he was already low on energy to begin with and this strain was overwhelming him.

 _This avalanche is too strong! I can't… I can't keep the shield up! Mommy… Daddy… Claus! CLAUUUUS!_ Lucas mentally screamed.

Duster knew Lucas wouldn't be able to hold the shield forever, so he dug into his pocket and took out a red, slender snake. "Rope Snake, we need your help!"

"I'm at your service, Duster! Just throw me anywhere and my jaws will cling to anything!" The Rope Snake said with a rather giddy smile.

Lucas was groaning as he held his head, he couldn't take it anymore. Duster quickly grabbed the Rope Snake by its tail and threw its head so it could latch onto something. Rope Snake's jaws did latch on to something, a strong branch growing on the side of the mountain. Duster held on to both the Rope Snake and to Lucas while the avalanche snow beneath them continued down the mountain, covering everything in its path.

"Hang on Lucas!" Duster yelled over the avalanche.

The boy was still trying to hold the shield so the stones wouldn't cut them through them, but he eventually had to let it go. The shield dissipated and all Lucas could do now was hold on to Duster tightly, though the boy was only half conscious after holding the shield for so long in such a dangerous situation.


	25. Chapter 25: Avalanche!

**DarkFoxKit: Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on…. *is sitting on top of a burrito blanket wrapped Wooper while staring at the clock***

 **Donfyre: *looks over at the camera* Oh, it's started rolling now. Hiya readers, and welcome back to the next chapter of the story! Fox here is, uh… excited about something that we've both been waiting for. Foooooox? *wiggles around***

 **DarkFoxKit: Bah! I can't believe we have to wait before we get Super Mystery Dungeon! DX … Wait, is the camera rolling now?**

 **Donfyre: Yeeeees, the camera's started rolling now! Now can you get me out of this blanket that you kept me wrapped up in for the past week!? DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: I'm surprised you didn't try to get out yourself, do you like being wrapped up like a burrito that much? :3**

 **Donfyre: H-HEY! It's kinda hard to get myself out without any arms! … Even if it is a little cozy in here… W-wait, that's not the point, we're supposed to be starting the AN now!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Fiiiiiiine. *grabs Fyre's antennas and pulls him out of the blanket* Happy now?**

 **Donfyre: Yep! … *shivers* W-wow, it's cold out here. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: You've been in there for a while. ^^' Uh… your skin kinda looks a little pruny… Ahem! Let's get started with the reviews!**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: Don't worry about Lucas, he'll be fine! … Maybe! ^^'**

 **Donfyre: You'll see. :3**

 **Shimo no ko : Getting a little impatient with how much Lucas has been failing to connect the pieces, huh? Well, I don't blame you. ^^; But it's Lucas, he sees his brother as someone who wouldn't dare to go to such lengths. And the younger brother's still kinda innocent too. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: I know people want Lucas to put two and two together, but come on, do you really think I'll let them connect it that easily? ;P**

 **FanofFiction123: Heh… seems everyone wants Lucas to just find out about Claus already. ^^'**

 **Yeah, it sucks when you're not allowed to download stuff, especially something as great as Undertale.**

 **And the fan comic… there was… an incident with my computer... *twitch***

 **Donfyre: Eh heh, luckily I managed to back up most of Fox's fan comic, but she's still kinda angry about the whole thing. ^^; And it's alright if you get a li'l bit off topic, as long as it's not, y'know, the majority of your review.**

 **Hey, Fox here is the master of cliffhangers, she cuts off her chapters at the best parts. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Heh, well I like keeping my readers guessing. ;P**

 **Connor the speling pro: Thanks for the review, things have been pretty busy lately, huh? And well we can't have Lucas being too oblivious, but he's still unsure if his theory is true or not. Mostly Lucas doesn't want it to be Claus, yet at the same time he does, since it would mean his brother has PSI, but that would also mean he's lied to Lucas for years and he might even be the Commander; his enemy. I'm sure you would want to see more internal character from Lucas, but we just like to go where the story takes us.**

 **Donfyre: Oh, same here with the mole cricket! I thought he actually buffed up, buuuut nope… Typical Mother/Earthbound humor. c: Anyways, it's nice to know you like how Kumatora's personality shines, and we try our best with Duster to make him unique too. But like you said, it is pretty difficult since he never really had a strong canon personality to begin with. ^^;**

 **Huh, we finished your review quicker than usual, Connor.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Well his review is shorter due to him being busy. ^^' Well, guess that's all. Unless Orangeflight or another reviewer comes in tomorrow. So Fyre, got anything else to add?**

 **Donfyre: Hmm… nope, not much. Unless we have another reviewer who reviews at a time where I can't be here to answer in full. Which in that case I might have to poof in again to say a few last words. c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: Heh, you're funny. *wraps Fyre back up in the blanket before sitting on top* Oh and there's a good chance we may not update next week due to being out of town.**

 **Donfyre: HEY! You did not have to wrap me back up in here! *pouts* … Oh yeah, Thanksgiving's coming up. HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! :D Okay Fox, there's the last thing I wanted to add. XP**

 **DarkFoxKit: :P HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Yup, that felt good! Anyways, we hope you enjoy the chapter and your Thanksgiving and we hope to see you again soon!**

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: Alright, another last minute reviewer that I need to answer alone, and it's a doozy. ^^'**

 **PK Gossamer : Heeeeey there Flun-Not-Flun-Anymore! It's been a long time since we heard from you! So glad to have you back! We hope you'll be able to try out Undertale soon.**

 **Yup, the two brothers who were once inseparable and closer than two of the bestest friends are now enemies on the opposite sides.**

 **It's true that Claus being in Lucas's Magicant does make Lucas very suspicious of him, but he's still not sure if Claus can use PSI and doesn't want to make any assumptions. I'm the very same way, which I guess may make me seem pretty stupid to a lot of people. ^^'**

 **Indeed, this story shows how one side has friends to rely on while the other is more often than not alone. Claus does care a lot for the wildlife like his brother does, so he hated the fact that he saw how chimeras were made, but though his loyalty is shaken he still want to believe what the Pigmasks are doing is right. In a way, Claus represent how some ambitious save-the-world humans think; believing we need to fix messes in the world ourselves alone, no matter how daunting it is. Also, Claus is just fun to torture. ^^' Yeah, I'm sadistic to my characters. And being a trained Commanding Officer for three years, it's no wonder Claus is being strong despite his age, but how long do you think he'll last before he finally cracks?**

 **The name 'PK Love' gives a lot of different interpretation of the unique PSI. The fact that it's about love would make sense if the user uses the 'power of love' of their enemies to defeat them into submission while not hurting the people they care about. And the fact only those who can use PK Love can pull the Needles would make sense it's connected to the Dark Dragon in someway, and it draws the users to wanting to release it once they're near a Needle, that's my take on it, plus I wanted Claus to be able to learn the higher levels of PK Love. Glad that you figured it out though, most people kept wondering what made Claus want to pull that last Needle in the first place, I just thought it was obviously implied. ^^'**

 **The lotus root having Duster's face... I never noticed before but now I can't unsee it! O.O And since the mole cricket was a joke enemy at that point in the game, I figured tickling it to submission was probably the best way to go without squishing it to death. ^^' Boney's snarkiness just came at random during part 2 when he and Lucas were trying to get into the tunnel but that guy kept pulling him out, and it played off well with Lucas's personality. XD**

 **I've always imagined Kumatora as someone who was impatient and shouty, even in the games. And she seems to be the type who's claustrophobic, which is why she got as agitated as she did after being in the underground for so long. I apologize if my interpretation of Kumatora bothers you a lot, but she's already like this in my story and it'd be weird to suddenly change her now. She's a bit cynical, hasty, impatient, a bit claustrophobic and doesn't take nonsense for an answer, that's how I saw her as. Everyone has different interpretations or each characters though. And I'm not sure if you found Kumatora amusing or not since you said she was, then said she wasn't and irritating.**

 **Nah, it wasn't the Renegade Group who did it. The next chapter will reveal who did it and why though, so I won't tell you anything more about it yet.**

 **Remember, the chapter was doubly longer than that, so a lot of these chapters will look like they've ended abruptly. ^^' And we wanted to make use of Rope Snake in the story and that was a good time to do so. :D**

 **Donfyre: poofs in We had ANOTHER big review the night before we update? This always seems to happen, and I'm not able to respond to the review! DX Well... Good to see you're back, Flun! Or should I say "PK Gossamer"? :P As always, thanks for the extensive review! Even if I couldn't respond to it, but Fox is better at responding to analyses. ^^; Alrighty, end it off, Fox! poofs away**

 **DarkFoxKit: Heh, he'll try to get in a last minute sentence before he goes. Anyways, on with the story!**

* * *

 **Chapter 25: Avalanche!  
**

 _I don't know how, but Duster and I managed to survive that avalanche with the Rope Snake. That was one stubborn branch, thankfully for us. The avalanche is now passed us, but now the entire mountain is covered in even MORE snow than ever now… and worst of all… we were separated from Kumatora and Boney. Duster and I were trudging through the snow… and I felt colder than ever… in fact I felt dizzy and my head was pounding._

* * *

"Ugh…" Lucas moaned as he held his head in discomfort. "My head hurts…" he hadn't felt this bad since he got PSI fevers two years ago.

"A-are you sick Lucas?" Duster asked in concern when he looked at the boy's face, noticing a red tint on it. He put his hand over Lucas's forehead and frowned even more. "You're burning up!"

"Really? Because I feel ice cold," Lucas groaned.

"You've got a really bad fever Lucas… we better find shelter and get you out of the snow and wind," Duster said quickly and in concern.

"I'll be… I'll be fine Duster… I just… need a moment to catch my breath that's all," Lucas said weakly.

"No, you're sick Lucas. Come on, get on my back, I'll find us a cave or something to stay in," Duster said to the boy.

Lucas didn't like the idea that someone had to piggyback him, he remembered Claus used to do that all the time since he was always physically stronger. Lucas tried to do the same with Claus but he could never carry his twin brother, but Claus was fine with just carrying Lucas. Lucas felt pathetic and weak that he couldn't piggyback Claus. The boy remembered how Claus said he was proud that he could piggyback Lucas and wouldn't have it any other way.

Lucas opened his eyes before realizing he had them closed and was on Duster's back. Duster was piggyback carrying him through the snow and Lucas frowned, feeling embarrassed he had fallen asleep for a brief moment like that and to make it worse, he's now being carried by the man with a limp leg. _I really am pathetic… of course I'm the only one who gets a cold out here and now Duster has to carry me. I got us separated from Kumatora and Boney… I hope those two are okay…_

"D-Duster, you can put me down… I can walk myself," Lucas said softly.

"You have a fever Lucas and you're tired from using that shield to protect us from the avalanche earlier. You just relax while I find us some shelter, okay?" Duster said back to the feverish boy.

"It's just a small cold fever. I can get rid of it with my Healing," Lucas said. "Watch… Healing!" A green light covered the boy… but he didn't feel any better, he just felt more tired from using more of his PSI. "What? I don't understand… why didn't that work?"

"Maybe because this 'cold' of yours is too much for you to handle right now, especially with how low your energy is I'm not surprised it didn't work," Duster said. "Now don't waste anymore of your energy. Just sleep, I'll make sure to get us somewhere safe."

Lucas still felt embarrassed and pathetic that he needed someone to carry him, but Duster insisted and he didn't think he could walk straight with this fever anyways.

* * *

 _I cringed as the cold winds began to pick up and it started snowing. The winds were making this more difficult than it should be, and my headache's getting worse. I'm actually kind of glad Duster's carrying me… otherwise I'm sure I'd collapse in the snow right now. But I still felt bad that I was deadweight to Duster as he's trudging through the snow. If only I wasn't so slow… or so sick right now, I'd be a much better help to Duster, or we could've found Lydia by now._

 _Thankfully, Duster found a small cave for us to take shelter in from the winds and snow, I was thankful for that. He put me down gently as I tried to move a bit, rubbing my aching head… it feels like it has gotten worse._

"Don't move around too much Lucas, okay?" Duster said gently to the boy as he put some snow on a ragged cloth and putting it over Lucas's forehead. "We need to bring your temperature down."

"Ugh… I'm… I'm sorry about being so weak," Lucas groaned sadly. "If only I hadn't been so slow or just let Kumatora warm me up… we wouldn't be in this situation right now."

"Lucas, don't blame yourself for this," Duster said kindly. "Despite what you believe you're not to blame for this. None of us could've seen this coming. What's important now is that we're alive. I'm sure Kumatora and Boney are fine too, they're probably worried for us."

"But if I wasn't sick we could find them easier…" Lucas groaned and rubbed the temples of his head.

"It's not your fault you're sick, Lucas, but you have to cooperate if you want to get better faster," Duster said to him. "We have enough food on us to last us a while, but you need to rest so you can get better."

Lucas frowned before he looked at Duster and said, "... Duster… why did you decide to come with us? I-I mean it's not that I don't appreciate it… but… well… where did you get that Rope Snake and why did you decide to help me find the Needles?"

Duster paused as he looked at Lucas, he sighed as he figured he might as well talk to the boy since they couldn't really go anywhere at the moment. "Well… as you know… I lived with my father, Wess, for a long time. He taught me the art of thievery and such… but he always yells at me… and well… I really wanted to impress him… so one night he had me go to Osohe Castle to retrieve something shiny, but he was really vague about it. You probably wouldn't believe this, but Osohe Castle is full of ghosts at night, and one of them was selling me the Rope Snake, which was pretty useful. Anyways I don't think I found what I was supposed to be looking for, but something attacked me and I fell unconscious… when I woke up, Kumatora was in front of me and I was in one of the Magypsy's home."

Lucas nodded as he remembered meeting Duster at Aeolia's house a few years back. The middle aged man continued, "Anyways… after that I decided to help out Kumatora and you a bit more. I didn't really want to stay with Dad anymore since I knew he'd just be angry at me for not finding that important thing in Osohe Castle. So I helped her spy on the Pigmasks and help you out anyway I can, to prove I'm not a useless moron my father keeps calling me."

At this, Lucas frowned, he knew Wess could be pretty harsh on people, but to call his own son a useless moron like that? … Lucas could only remember one time when his own father lost it and threaten to beat him and Claus up just after they lost their mother, thankfully Flint tried hard to make up for that, but the incident still scared Lucas whenever he thought about it. Duster had to live with that for all his life, Lucas couldn't imagine having Flint acting like that to him for 13 years of his and Claus's life.

"I can't believe Wess would be so mean to you like that." Lucas frowned sadly. "I thought he should love you, not hate you."

"Oh Lucas… my father didn't _hate_ me… he just has trouble expressing himself. He worries for me a lot and he lashes out to me for it." Duster said with a sigh. "But don't let that worry you. You should rest now, Lucas."

Lucas began closing his eyes. "I-I'll… I'll try… to get better soon." He soon closed his eyes, blissfully falling into oblivion to get away from his aching head.

* * *

… _.. "Lucas? Lucas! Where are you?"_

 _Claus…? Was that Claus's voice?_

"Lucas please answer me!"

 _C-Claus! I'm here Claus!_

" _Lucas? Oh good, you're safe. Where are you?"_

I… I don't know. Just somewhere really snowy. Are you okay Claus? How are we talking?

" _I… I don't know… I just heard you screaming for help and I tried to find you. I got worried when I didn't hear you call back."_

… _But how are we talking now? I thought I was asleep._

" _Uh… maybe your PSI has something to do with it? It brought me to Magicant before anyways, so I wouldn't be surprised. A-anyways how are you doing?"_

 _I don't feel so good… I think I'm sick._

" _Y-you're sick? Oh Lucas… I wish I could be with you right now."_

 _Y-yeah… me too._

" _Just be strong Lucas."_

"Lucas…?"

* * *

Lucas groaned as he slowly woke back up and was surprised to see Boney was on his chest, licking his cheek. "B-Boney?"

"Lucas, Boney and Kumatora found us!" Duster suddenly said. "Boney smelled our scent in the snow and Kumatora said she sensed your PSI."

Lucas looked up as Kumatora took the rag off his forehead and touched it. "Hmm… don't worry Lucas, that isn't a cold fever, it's a PSI fever. You must be awakening a new power."

"Wait, what? Seriously? This is a PSI Fever? But I hadn't had one in almost three years!" Lucas said, surprised and a little embarrassed he thought he was actually sick.

"You hadn't really been training as much lately. So I guess you did something help awaken another PSI in you. That and with your PSI maturing it's not surprising to see you're finally awakening a new power," Kumatora said with a shrug. "The fever will pass soon."

"I'm just glad you and Boney are okay after that avalanche," Lucas said in relief. "I was worried something happened to you."

" _We were more worried about you,"_ Boney whined as he nuzzled Lucas. _"We didn't realize you and Duster fell behind until after we escaped the avalanche! I'm so sorry Lucas, I forgot that you weren't a very fast runner!"_

"Hey… it's okay. Duster managed to save us with his Rope Snake," Lucas said as he pet Boney's head.

"Hey, you protected us with your shield," Duster pointed out.

Kumatora sat down and gave Lucas a Magic Tart. "Here, you're going to need all the energy you can get once your fever is gone."

"T-thanks Kumatora," Lucas said as he gratefully took a bite out of the Magic Tart, feeling his mental energy refilling slowly.

"So what should we do now? Wait until Lucas's fever passes by?" Duster asked.

"That might be smart. The fever won't kill him, but it'll make it hard for him to fight or move until it passes," Kumatora said.

Boney suddenly began barking and growling at something. _"Something is coming!"_

Two dog-like creatures were growling from outside the cave, they looked like dogs but they were made of ice. They growled at the group of four.

"What the? What are they?" Lucas yelped.

"More chimeras no doubt," Kumatora hissed. "Time to burn these chilly dogs." Her hand sparked with fire.

Lucas gulped as he watched Kumatora's hands push out. "PK Fire beta!" She let loose a powerful stream of fire and caused the two ice dogs to howl in pain and agony.

However, the howls caused more of these 'chilly dogs' to come. Lucas frowned as Kumatora tried melting those dogs too, only for _more_ to arrive. "S-stop Kumatora! You're making it worse!"

"Why are there so many of them!?" Kumatora hissed as they found themselves greatly outnumbered.

" _They work like packs. When a member of a pack is in pain they will call for help and more will come to help them,"_ Boney explained.

"Then how will we defeat them if they just keep calling for more?" Duster asked.

Lucas weakly stood up and tried to focus, he needed to focus if he wanted to help his friends. "We hit them harder." He walked to the front.

"Lucas, what are you doing?" Kumatora asked.

"PK… Love Beta!" The boy let loose a powerful wave of blue energy that surrounded the entire pack of chilly dogs before it exploded into a perfect hexagonal shape. The ice dogs were shattered over the snow.

"Lucas!" Kumatora caught the boy as he fell back down from using so much mental energy into that PK Love. "Oh shi- Lifeup!"

Lucas felt a lot better but his head was still spinning and aching from the PSI fever. "I-I'm fine…"

"I think you'll feel a lot better once the fever passes and we get to Lydia's house. If I remember right 'she' has a hot spring in 'her' yard that will help replenish our lost energy," Kumatora said gently to Lucas. Duster and Boney were rather impressed as they rarely see this gentle side of Kumatora.

"O-outside? B-but it's… cold out here… wouldn't we freeze to death if we were… to step into water?" Lucas asked, frowning.

"Lydia has a magic barrier that keeps the cold from affecting anyone in the hot springs so we'll be fine. We'll get you there so you can relax until the PSI fever wears off," Kumatora said.

"Besides, we can't stay out here, more of those dogs may come back," Duster warned. "So we better go now while the coast is clear."

* * *

Lucas nodded as he walked out into the snow, trying to be strong since he didn't want to have to be carried again. Lucas wanted to be strong, like his brother Claus, he wanted to help his friends not put more strain on them taking care of him.

"Lucas, I can still carry you," Duster said when he saw the boy was walking ahead of them.

"N-no… I feel a lot better after that nap," Lucas said with a smile. "I can walk on my own now."

"Don't push yourself Lucas," Kumatora said. "I'll take the lead from here, but you make sure you hold someone's hand so you don't get lost. PSI fever will make it difficult for you to navigate what with your spinning head and all."

"I-I'll try," Lucas said weakly as Boney and Duster stayed close to the boy.

"We should be close… I can already sense Lydia's PSI nearby," Kumatora said, trying to reassure the group.

Boney sniffed the air before growling. _"Something's coming!"_

The group stopped before they heard what sounded like sledding on the snow. They were going up a slope and saw a big white puffy thing with arms and legs and a face on a piece of wood.

"What the hel- LOOK OUT!" Kumatora pushed Lucas out of the way while Boney and Duster jumped out of the way too.

The weird yeti creature began charging at the group, to which Boney reacted to as he jumped and bit the yeti's arm and caused it to go out of control on the snow, but still sledding somehow. It moved its arm to get the dog off it before throwing it into the snowy ground.

The yeti gave a roar before charging at them and crashed itself into Lucas, who groaned as he fell back in the snow a bit. "Ugh…!"

"Oh no you didn't!" Kumatora hissed as she let fire consume her hands. "PK FIRE BETA!"

The yeti let out a scream from the flames and it rolled around the snow desperately to put it out. Duster ran and used his leg to kick the yeti in the face, shoving it back at bit. The yeti grabbed its wooden board and charged forward, hitting the three with its flailing arms and covered them in snow.

Kumatora was fuming as the snow around her instantly melted. Lucas saw the yeti coming right at him again, he grabbed onto his bat and swung it, hitting the incoming yeti off to the side. Kumatora responded by running at it before punching the thing right in the face and lighting its fur on fire. Duster, Boney and Lucas all backed away from the fuming pink haired woman.

"Come on, let's go," She said.

"Y-yes ma'am!" The three boys followed her with no question, though Lucas lagged behind.

Kumatora gave a sigh before she went over to Lucas and said, "You're still too dizzy to walk. Get on my back, it'll be easier and faster this way."

Lucas looked up at her and wanted to protest, but the look on her face left no argument. The PSI feverish boy sighed before he reluctantly climbed onto her back and she lifted him up. "We shouldn't be too far, so just relax. Do it or I will not hesitate to use Hypnosis to put you to sleep."

Lucas gulped before nodding and she smiled. "Good, now let's go."

Kumatora took the lead with Lucas on her back, Duster and Boney followed. Lucas kept his eyes open, refusing to sleep until they get somewhere safe.

 _I stayed still as Kumatora piggybacked me, she was a lot stronger than she looked. She managed to hike up the snowy slopes with me as a deadweight on her back. I hated that this stupid PSI fever had to come in while we were out here on the mountain, it's making me nothing but a deadweight! But there's nothing I can do about that. I felt very warm on Kumatora's back… I guess her inner PSI Fire is keeping her warm… and I guess she's expanding it a bit to help keep me warm too. I came close to falling asleep on her, but I fought to keep consciousness. I was thankful when I sensed PSI nearby, and pretty soon we were coming up on a familiar pink shelled house, and a nice warm steam coming from a hot spring. I'm so glad we made it…_

* * *

"Ah, finally! We're at Lydia's place!" Kumatora said in relief. "Alright Lucas, there's the hot spring. Let's get you in there until your PSI fever fades away."

"T-thanks, Kumatora," Lucas thanked as she walked into the hot water and gently put him down into it. Duster and Boney walked in themselves, more than happy to shed off the cold into the nice, hot water.

With the group relaxing in the hot spring, Lucas decided to try and pass the time by asking Kumatora something. "So how was your little adventure with Boney? I'd say it took a few hours before you two found us."

Kumatora and Boney looked at each other before they looked away, both annoyed with each other. Boney gave a gruff bark, as if annoyed. _"She's not exactly the most pleasant person to be around."_

"Well excuse me! You're not exactly a pleasant dog to be around either, honestly I have no idea how Lucas put up with you all these years!" Kumatora grumbled.

"Wish I knew what he just said," Duster sighed.

"Why don't you tell us what happened? I don't know how long it'll be until this PSI fever will go away," Lucas suggested.

Kumatora sighed but she decided to tell Lucas and Duster about what happened when they go separated since it'd be boring if they just sat in the hot spring until his new PSI awakens. "Alright, it started off with us just narrowly escaping the avalanche…"

* * *

 **Flashback**

 _Kumatora and Boney found a sturdy rock formation and hid under it while the avalanche went over them. Kumatora was reaching, trying to hug Duster or Lucas, but all she got was something furry. "What the? Lucas's dog? Where are Lucas and Duster?"_

 _Boney whined a bit before pouting._ "My name is BONEY! And weren't they right behind us?"

 _The two paled when they looked around and didn't see any signs of Duster or Lucas anywhere. "Oh… no… they must've fallen behind!"_

 _Boney whimpered as he put his paws over his eyes._ "Ohhh… I forgot that Lucas can't run very fast! We gotta go back out there and find them!"

" _No! We can't go out there right now or we'll be dead! Lucas and Duster will have to survive until this avalanche is over!" Kumatora quickly said as she grabbed the dog to keep him from running out there._

 _Boney barked and struggled against her hold._ "NO! One of my very important pack member is out there and he needs my help! LUCAS!"

" _I'm sorry about this." Kumatora put her hand over Boney's eyes. "Hypnosis."_

 _Boney stopped moving and went limp in her arms, he had fallen into a deep sleep from Kumatora's PSI Hypnosis._

 _After the avalanche was over, they were covered in snow. Kumatora had to use a lot of PK Fire to get out of it, she pulled Boney with her, who had just woken up. The two set out to find Lucas and Duster._

"There's too much snow… I can't pick up their scent…" _Boney whined sadly._

" _I can't sense Lucas's PSI either, it's too weak," Kumatora growled. "We're just going to have to search them the old fashion way!"_

 _They explored the snow covered mountain for a while, but they still couldn't find Lucas or Duster. Kumatora was losing her patience. "Are you sure you can't pick up their scent? What kind of dog are you!?"_

 _Boney growled and barked at her._ "Oh don't you go blaming me! I may be a dog but I'm not some bloodhound who can pick up even the smallest of scent hundreds of miles away!"

" _But you knew Lucas wasn't a fast runner! Why couldn't you have pushed him or tell us!?" Kumatora snapped._

"Oh well excuse me for not remembering that Lucas isn't as athletic as his brother while we were being chased by gallons of snow ready to bury us alive!" _Boney barked back angrily._

" _Why couldn't you have told us that before then!?" Kumatora hissed._

"Because it didn't seem to matter if he could or couldn't run very fast before!" _Boney snapped back._

" _We're going on a long adventure to find those Needles scattered all over the island- OF COURSE that would matter eventually! Is there anything ELSE that I need to know!?" The PSI user demanded._

"Yes, don't quit your day job because you'd make a terrible babysitter. Wait until Flint hears you lost his son in an avalanche," _Boney said with a smug._

" _You can't even talk to him!" Kumatora said._

"True, but he's going to want to know what you did with his son when you show up and he isn't with you. Besides, Flint's pretty good at figuring out what I want him to know," _Boney said with a smirk._

" _... You are an evil dog," Kumatora growled._

 _The two kept bickering as they moved on in the snowy mountain. But they began to calm down from the bickering as they trudged through the cold, snowy mountain._

"You know… Lucas and I really like the cold. But Lucas may freeze to death out here… he wasn't looking very good before the avalanche came," _Boney spoke to Kumatora in a worried tone._

" _H-hey, what are you saying?" Kumatora said, frowning as she continued to trudge through the snow, looking out for any sign of Lucas. "Duster's missing too you know. And you've seen how strong he is even with that cripple, I'm sure he's with Lucas or something and helping him."_

"I know Duster's strong and all, but we can't guarantee those two are even together. And Lucas looked like he was freezing. I'm just worried since there's no way for him to warm up out here in the snow, what if he dies from hypothermia?"

" _Will you quit saying that?" Kumatora said in an annoyed tone. "You're getting me worried."_

 _Boney continued to talk even after Kumatora said this,_ "But... Lucas had never been the strong one out of the family so I always felt it was my duty to protect him since his brother kept leaving." _Boney frowned._ "I also miss Claus and worry about him. Those two kids are like my own children."

 _Kumatora's frown lightened, but only a little bit. "Seriously? That's… actually pretty nice of you to feel that way for them. For a pretty annoying dog in every other scenario, at least." She said that last part with a small smirk._

 _That last remark got Boney to growl irritably at her._ "Hey! I'm not annoying! I just happen to be the comic relief one out of the group since you're Mrs. Short Temper! Maybe your hotheadedness could keep Lucas nice and toasty when we find them!"

" _What exactly do you mean by that?!" Kumatora snapped, already letting her short temper getting the better of her._

"I mean exactly what I bark; you have a short temper. And maybe you're the only one out of all of us who can keep Lucas warm," _Boney said in an 'as a matter of fact' tone._ "It's just you scare him so much he doesn't trust you to not burn him or something."

 _Kumatora was glaring at Boney now, he could feel the anger radiating from her. "I am not a scary person! And I'm only 'hotheaded' because it's pretty easy to roast those stupid Pigsnots with a good PK Fire anyways," she grumbled. "At least you stopped saying things like Lucas might be dead when we find him."_

 _Boney gave a small whimper at that._ "... Well it won't matter if he is alive when we find him. If we don't warm him up, then hypothermia _will_ kill him eventually. Do you think you could warm him up without burning him with your PK Fire magic thing?"

" _I swear, you have no faith sometimes," Kumatora muttered as they still continued their search._

"What's that supposed to mean? Whenever I see you use PK Fire magic it literally burns everything it touches, forgive me for being skeptical! And so was Lucas… we suggested he asked you to warm him up since I could tell he was freezing out here, but he didn't want to because he was scared you'd burn him," _Boney said with a small whine._

" _Okay, fine, I'm not gonna burn him. Happy?" Kumatora said as she looked at him with an irritated glance._

"I… knew you wouldn't… but then fire isn't something that can't burn… How do you stay warm without using your PK Fire magic anyways? You're not exactly dressed for this kind of environment either now that I think about it," _Boney asked her curiously._

" _I_ can _use it in my body to warm me up too," Kumatora explained. "It lets me stay warm even when it's freezing cold outside, and I can have others stay warm too if they stay close. There's a lot of other complicated explanation stuff too that's involved with it, not that I think you'd understand."_

"In that case… please make sure Lucas gets some of that warmth. Please… I don't want him to die," _Boney begged, ignoring any insults she threw at him._

" _Yeah… we'll find him, and I'll make sure he gets better from this cold…" Kumatora just said quietly in response to Boney's whimper._

 _The two silently walked again and as they were passing by a small cave, Boney suddenly picked up on Lucas and Duster's scent._ "Wait, I can smell them! They're nearby!"

" _Yes… I sense Lucas's PSI, it's weak but I feel it!" Kumatora smiled in relief._

 _The two of them looked at the small cave where the scent and PSI aura is coming from and they hurried inside to see Duster there and Lucas asleep._

 **End of Flashback**

* * *

"And the rest is history," Kumatora finished.

"Wow, so you and Boney mostly just argued?" Lucas chuckled, he figured with Kumatora's hot temper and Boney's dry personality would clash with each other, but he was glad they mostly argued because they cared about him and Duster.

"So how's that fever doing, Lucas?" Duster asked the boy.

Lucas's head still hurts, but before he answered he felt that familiar burning yet tingling sensation go through his body. The boy bit his lip to keep from crying out… and he felt so much better before he heard the word _Counter_ enter his head.

"I think it's gone now," Lucas said with a smile. "My head doesn't hurt anymore."

"Ah finally, I hope you learned a good one." Kumatora said as she stood up from the hot spring. "Time to dry off before my skin starts to prune."

"I feel so much better," Lucas said happily as he came out of the water too. "I feel well rested and like I can take on anything!"

Boney shook his fur as he came out of the hot spring too. _"Good, let's just hope we can get to the Needle without any more incidents."_

Duster was the last one to come out. The group dried off pretty quickly with Kumatora's PSI Fire, which she thankfully didn't burn them with. "Now come on, let's go see Lydia and get this over with."

When they went into the pink shelled house, they were surprised to see little white rabbits all over the place, they looked at the sudden people walking in and they ran off out the door. Lydia was standing there wearing a golden yellow furry coat with high heel shoes.

"Oh dear me! My little bunnies have ran off. I apologize for this, for you see we don't get a lot of visitors here~" Lydia said.

Boney began growling as he was looking at the yellow bed, on it was a Pigmask Captain lying unconscious. _"What's this Pigmask doing here?"_

"Oh that fellow… I saw him unconscious just outside my house. Gave me quite a surprise he did. I just figured he was cold and let him warm up here~." Lydia explained.

"I'd say let sleeping Pigsnots lie," Kumatora hissed.

"Now, now Kumatora, you mustn't hate them. Pigmasks are people too." Lydia gave a light scold to the former princess. "So Lucas, it looks like the time has finally come. It's almost surreal, I never thought it would come to pass, quite invigorating if I do say so myself~."

"Y-yeah…" Lucas frowned. "It took us quite an adventure getting here. But are you sure you're okay with this?"

"But of course~ All Magypsies have been awaiting for the time to come. My only regret would be is when I'm gone who would look after my dear precious bunnies?" Lydia gave a sigh. "Oh well, I guess they'll just have to learn to live out in the wild by themselves. Now go on Lucas, you cutie~ You should go out there and pull my Needle with all your heart~."

"Are you ready Lucas?" Kumatora gently asked the boy.

"Y-yeah… we have to do this," Lucas said with a nod.

"Oh and before you go, I thought I heard this nice tune playing outside. Maybe it's a parade in your honor~" Lydia chuckled.

"Tune?" Lucas frowned curiously.

The boy opened the door to the other side, and when they walked ahead they stopped dead in their tracks in shock.

"What the hel- what is this!?" Kumatora shouted in shock.

Beyond them was the third Needle, but it was completely surrounded by Pork Tanks, Pigmasks and in front of them was none other than the Commander himself, with his helmet and all.

"Lucas… I'm afraid I can't allow you to pull anymore Needles. Surrender _now_." The Masked Man demanded in a firm tone.


	26. Chapter 26: Defending the Third Needle

**DarkFoxKit: Fyre, you've been glued to your 3DS for a week now, when are you going to look up from it?**

 **Donfyre: *no response from him, he was too busy still playing Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon***

 **DarkFoxKit: Fyre! We need to get started, will you give it a break already?**

 **Donfyre: *finally looks up from the 3DS with tired eyes* H-hey! You did the same thing when you got the game!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yes, I will admit to that, but at least I didn't let it interfere with my work! *flashback to when I didn't update anything at all last week* …. Erm… w-well everyone needs a break some time! A-and anyways we've kept them on a cliffhanger for two weeks! S-so we need to get started!**

 **Donfyre: *is looking at Fox suspiciously* … Riiiiiight. Well, you have fun doing that then! *shifts his attention back to his 3DS***

 **DarkFoxKit: *glares at Fyre before giving a smirk* Okay, you want to play it like that? We'll play it like that. *Shuts the 3DS and snatches it away from Fyre* Let's answer the reviews now!**

 **Donfyre: WAH! Hey, we were exploring the continents! *pouts***

 **DarkFoxKit: You can have it back after we finish our work. :P And also, I decided to keep this chapter's original length to make up for making you guys wait two weeks. ^^'**

 **Shimo no ko: I think Wes does care for Duster too, but he just doesn't want to show it. There are parents like that. And yes, Claus isn't pulling any punches here, desperate times calls for desperate measures.**

 **Donfyre: "Next week", huh? Yeah, sorry if we weren't clear about how we were taking a break for a week. ^^; We got quite a bit of reviews about that.**

 **Bloxxystudios: Really now? Hey Fox! You got yourself a new follower~ XP**

 **DarkFoxKit: This is the first and possibly only story they follow, which means you too, Fyre. :P**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: Yes, cliffhanger and an awesome battle. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: Wow, someone's excited. ^^;**

 **FanofFiction123: Blame Fox for them cliffhangers. c: And yep, already on the 26th chapter now!**

 **Fox's comic is… mostly okay. I was able to salvage most of what she had. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Unfortunately I am unable to continue it at the moment. *grumbles***

 **Donfyre: Yeeeeaaah… and there's that too. It's been kinda rough on her right now.**

 **Really pent up to see Lucas's reaction, huh? It'll happen sooner or later. XP**

 **Good! The scene came about when we wondered how it would be like when we realized that the two sassiest characters in our fanfic were traveling together. ^^:**

 **Have fun reading this chapter! :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: And uh… sorry for the long wait. ^^'**

 **Connor the speling pro: It's okay to point out where we need to improve, but don't let it be your number 1 priority. I want people to just relax and enjoy the story too. Fun fact; originally Boney and Kumatora's conversation was much shorter, but Fyre and I decided to extend it because it was so much fun having those two argue. ^^' Lucas starting out as a dead weight or thinks that he is, is what most people see him as. He was such a timid boy in both Mother 3 and Super Smash Bros. Brawl so it's natural for us to assume that's his personality. Besides, I kinda like doing that type of personality myself. ^^' And as for Lucas finding out it's Claus in this chapter… don't count on it. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: We do write these stories primarily for fun, so it'd be nice if the readers had fun reading them too. ^^; We still appreciate the positive criticism though!**

 **PK Gossamer: Heh, your reviews are pretty long, so it'd take a while to answer back. ^^' But we still love having in-depth reviews like yours, so don't feel shy about it. :D**

 **PK Love is pretty vague on what it means in the game, just that it's something you need to pull the Needles in order to wake up the Dark Dragon. There's a lot more potential to it considering the name, and I've always wondered what makes PK Love so special that only those who has it can wake the Dark Dragon? It's also fun coming up with headcanons for it. And there is more to the lore of this story, so don't worry about that. As for a sequel… well not planning one for this. ^^' And you're right, lingering questions are what spawns more fanfictions. :3**

 **Kumatora just has that type of vigorous personality. It's annoying, but it doesn't mean that it shouldn't be there. ^^' And she was mostly like that in the last chapter due to being claustrophobic and hasty. Boney even points out her ill temper.**

 **You'll find out about the missile mishap in this chapter. I won't say anything more about that.**

 **There's not much else for me to say about the PSI Fever really. ^^' You just get really feverish for a while, then you awaken a new power, it's as simple as that. I probably won't use it anymore after the next few chapters, since Lucas, Kumatora and Claus already know pretty much every PSI I need them to know at this point in the story. The uh… Steel Machorilla is unfortunately absent in this story and replaced by Claus and the army. ^^' Sorry if that's what you were hoping to see. You enjoy Lucas and his inner thoughts I take it?**

 **"Tiger Mums"? Oooh, so that's what that expression means. I hear it but I never knew what it meant. ^^' I can relate, my Mom is like that, it's no wonder I have almost no self esteem even if I act like I do. I feel bad for Duster, having to deal with Wes constantly saying how much of a moron he is when he messes up. I mean is it really Duster's fault that he couldn't tell what Wes wanted him to steal? All he said was 'something shiny', that's as vague as it could get!**

 **Donfyre:**

 **Oh, my mom told me about that when I was very little. I think my parents used to be like that… but they're a tiny bit more laid back now. ^^; But it's cool to see how you related Wess's personality with that.**

 **Oooh, interesting theory you got there! Luckily (or unluckily?) for you, what happened is explained in this chapter. About the whole thing between Claus and Lucas's PSI and their lovely brotherly links. :P**

 **The back-and-forth between Boney and Kumatora is great, isn't it? And I can relate, I don't really know or watch anime much, just rarely… but according to a Google search for what a "tsundere" is… That kinda sounds like Kumatora, but kinda harsh too. How about we just see her response as "being protective" like a good, concerned friend would be? ^^; (At least… I HOPE friends would be concerned like that for each other.)**

 **Oh, rabbit zodiac? You're older than I by about a year, since I'm the dragon zodiac. :P Anyways, when you live on the peak of a really high mountain, I'd think that you'd be kinda ignorant of stuffs from the outside world.**

 **Fox here is the great mind for these wonderful (and aggravating :3 ) cliffhangers! So give all the credit (or frustrations X3 ) over to her! See ya for your next review! Oh, and thanks for notifying how you'll be using a divider for your next review. You don't really HAVE to do that, but I guess it makes things a teensy bit easier. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Alrighty! Now for our next long reviewer…**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan: Glad to see you're here again! But as you can see from earlier in the AN, we both got Super Mystery Dungeon. Both of us have the same combination believe it or not. ^^' We are Charmander with Chikorita for a partner. And it IS a super great game! XD**

 **Donfyre: Fox is evil. She made ME the Chikorita in her game. DX That Pokemon looks like it would fit a female!**

 **DarkFoxKit: :3 Fyre makes for an adorable Chikorita. Anyways… Lucas is feeling down, especially since he felt like such a burden to his friends. And yes, if it was a normal fever, chances are Healing would've worked. It was never really specified in the games though. I mean Ness was able to heal his cold with Healing, but Ninten apparently couldn't for whatever reason.**

 **Heh, well I'm glad you liked Lucas and Claus's conversation there. It was pretty sweet.**

 **Well if you keep running away from enemies you'll never get any stronger. ^^' But if they are that much of a nuisance or you can't afford to keep fighting, then by all means, run like the wind!**

 **Donfyre: Great words of wisdom, Fox. XP Anyways, the gang here deserved a break after going through those frigid, harsh obstacles. And I agree, those hot springs probably feel wonderful. ^^;**

 **It's great to see how many people really like that Kumatora and Boney scene. XD We had a lot of fun with that too. And yeah, luckily for them they found Lucas. They'd probably be in a mini war of blaming each other if they hadn't.**

 **It's been a looooong while since I played Mother 3, so I don't really remember the rabbits much… I think I kept trying to ram into them, cute as they are. ^^;**

 **Anyways, now that the chapter's posted a week than you were expecting, NOW you can finally see what happens between the two groups! Have fun~ c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: I want an official English translation Mother 3 here in the west! ;^; I mean I know it's got a lot of dark stuff, but come on! If they can release the original Mother and Earthbound here, why not Mother 3 too? I hope they'll surprise us with it one day in the Eshop. :3**

 **Salsa's dialogue?**

 **The Commander in the actual game probably wouldn't dye his hair unless he was ordered to by Porky, which wouldn't surprise me if he ever did say that to his 'slave'. And well, the Pigmasks probably aren't the brightest people in the world. ^^'**

 **Did Claus get any sleep? I'll let this chapter answer that.**

 **It's too bad we don't have a fan who's area of expertise is making video games. That would be so awesome! To see one of my stories as a video game, or at least a fanmade game.**

 **Donfyre: I wanna make a video game someday. I'm pretty fluent with programming and stuff and want a degree with computer stuffs… I just don't think I have the artistic or storytelling talent to do that. ^^;**

 **Heh, pretty tough decisions if you put yourself in their shoes, huh? It's good to know that you can see what they're going through from their POV. And you'll get to see where we decide further where to take their decisions in the future.**

 **I'm still a bit reluctant about believing if Claus still has a heart in the game (Fox here would beg to differ), but since he does regain his memories by the final moments of the game… I can see why.**

 **More Mystery Dungeon questions? ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Seems Chikorita is pretty popular. ^^' We're both Charmander with Chikorita as our partner. We are Team SolarFlare! Although I called my Charmander Chara, and Chikorita Ke-**

 **Donfyre: WAH! *shuts Fox's mouth with duct tape* No real names in the public! DX As for me… mine's team Blazeblade! The Charmander's named Fyre, and the Chikorita partner named… *looks at Fox* Well, Fox's real name. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: *gives a teary eye of joy at Fyre***

 **Donfyre: Yeah, you're welcome for not blurting out your real name. XP Or are you tearing because we're a team? ^^; … Eh, I'll never know with that on you. *rips off the duct tape forcefully***

 **DarkFoxKit: O.O YEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOWWWWWWW! DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW PAINFUL IT IS TO GET DUCT TAPE RIPPED OFF OF SKIN AND FUR LIKE THAT!?**

 **Donfyre: :3 You've done it to ME before! … Though I don't really know how much more it hurts with fur. You look funny now. c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: *is growling at Fyre before giving a sweet, innocent smile* Oh, I do, do I? Well then allow me to make up for that, sweetie~**

 **Donfyre: Yipe! *is backing away before looking at the camera* H-heeey, looks like we're pretty much finished for today! H-how about we just have a truce and call it a day? ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: You're right, I don't want our lovely readers to see what happens next, so… I am DarkFoxKit, my sweet little partner is Fyre, and we look forward to hearing from you. Now if you'll all excuse me… *puts a paw over the lens* *You can hear what sounds like a lot of crashing and a chainsaw***

 **Donfyre: *in the background* F-Fox!? W-wait, I- WAAAA-! *static***

* * *

 **Chapter 26: Defending the Third Needle**

Claus was staring at the Needle he just pulled in morbid curiosity. It's been ten minutes since he had pulled it and he felt like he had just committed the ultimate crime. The young, insomniac boy didn't know what to do, but he knew he had to go back to base soon and report this… it was his mission and he failed, betrayed by his own PK Love.

Claus sighed as he shook his head, there was nothing he can do about it now other than to move on. The boy knew he should pick up his helmet from Dr. Andonuts first and foremost, so he stood up and began climbing up the ladder.

"Wait what? What happened to the door?" Claus froze when he heard Kumatora's voice just outside the magic door Salsa had to dance in order to open it.

"If Doria's door is open… Does that mean her… his… Needle was pulled?" Claus gulped when he heard his brother's voice. The now panicking helmetless Commander quickly ran over to the water and jumped into it with a SPLASH!

The young Commander knew he couldn't stay underwater forever, but he hoped that they would check out the house or the Needle and be too pre-occupied to pay attention to him leaving. Of course he couldn't understand the voices above the surface due to being underwater, but he could hear them talking. The boy listened as his synthetic eye showed him their current location, he was thankful for once that he had this eye helping him out since his helmet was gone.

When the life forces indicated they were in the house, probably looking for the non-existent Doria, Claus quickly activated his jetwings and flew himself out of the water and through the door, hurrying as fast as he can out of sight and to the Chimera Lab.

* * *

Finally reaching the lab, Claus landed in front of the door and sighed in relief before he noticed a rather large hole in the wall and the gates. "What the- what could've made _that_?"

"Ah Commander, you came back!" Dr. Andonuts voice suddenly spoke up. Claus turned to see the short man came out of the lab and was holding a new replica of the helmet he lost. "What was that horrifying tremor just now? I was afraid something happened to you! After the Ultimate Chimera escaped-"

"Wait- the Ultimate Chimera ESCAPED!?" Claus suddenly shouted.

"W-well unfortunately yes… that bird that was always on its head? It turned it back on and it must've escaped the lab because there's not a trace of it anywhere," Dr. Andonuts said.

Claus felt like it was just one bad news after another, first he went and pulled the blasted Needle, then almost got caught by his own brother and NOW there's a deranged, super strong, destructive chimera on the loose!

"N-now try not to worry too much about it Commander, you better head back home and get some sleep. You won't be able to function properly if you don't get any sleep soon," Dr. Andonuts said when he noticed the stress on Claus's face. "A-and anyways maybe you can tell me about that weird quake later."

Claus took the helmet from the babbling doctor and put it over his head, hiding half of his face and left organic eye. "There's no time. I have to report this to Fassad immediately." The boy didn't even give Dr. Andonuts time to react before he activated his jetwings again, taking off into the sky.

"Oh that boy… he's not going to get anything done if he doesn't sleep soon," Dr. Andonuts sighed after Claus took off.

While in midair, Claus felt his eyes threatening to close but he forced them to stay open as he was hurrying back to base. He had just noticed the morning sun was rising again, he must've been stuck at that lab all day and night, but he didn't deserve sleep, not after what he did.

 _I felt horribly sick, in more ways than one. I can't believe I pulled that Needle, Fassad's going to freak the bloody heck out for sure! No excuse could justify the horrible deed I've done, but maybe I could help make it right. After I landed I hurried into the base._

"Fassad!" Claus called as he opened the door.

The Magypsy looked at him as if he had been expecting the younger Commander. "Well… another Needle's been pulled."

"Y-yeah…" Claus hesitated, wondering if the Magypsies could tell who pulled the Needles.

"What happened out there Commander? Were you unable to stop Lucas?" Fassad asked.

Claus sighed before he said, "N-no… Lucas… Lucas wasn't the one who pulled the Needle… it was me."

Fassad became silent as he studied him, making the boy fidget uncomfortably. After what felt like a long time, Fassad said, "You, Claus?"

"I-I'm sorry… this is unforgivable, a crime punishable by death or… even being turned into a chimera… I-I don't know why I did it… When I approached the Needle I just… I just couldn't stop myself from pulling it!" Claus quickly said but knowing it was pointless to explain himself. "I… I will accept whatever punishment you or Master Porky see fit."

Fassad gave a sigh before he said, "Oh Claus… I had hoped it wouldn't be a problem but it looks like I was dead wrong…"

Claus looked up in shock at what the older Commander just said. "Wait what? Are you saying you _knew_ this would happen?"

"Well I was hoping it _wouldn't_ be an issue…" Fassad sighed. "You see Claus… the Needles have very special magic on them, and they are closely connected to those who can use PK Love. If you were to approach it, the Needle will read your heart and use whatever it needs to get you to pull it. It will urge the PK Love user to pull it and almost put them in a trance. I… I had hoped you would've been able to resist its urges, but I guess I was wrong."

"I wasn't aware that it could do that." Claus frowned.

"Yes, I suppose you _were_ caught off guard due to lack of knowledge on my part and for that I apologize. But it also didn't help that you barely slept for the past two days," Fassad said with a frown.

"I'm sorry…" Claus sighed. "But I will do my best to make up for it. I'll be sure to put up mental barriers this time and not get too close to the Needle. I must protect this world at all cost!"

"... Claus… I know you're trying hard, but you need to sleep. The lack of sleep is keeping you from thinking straight and you can't protect the next Needle in this condition," Fassad said seriously. "Why don't you take a quick nap?"

"But I…" Claus sighed, he wanted to punish himself but he knew Fassad was right, if he didn't sleep he might accidentally pull another Needle and that was the _last_ thing he wanted to do. "Where's the Instant Revitalizing Chamber? I'll use that."

"Unfortunately it's out of order right now," Fassad said grimly. "You're going to need good old fashion sleep." The Magypsy began putting a small portion of make-up on his face for some reason.

"But that would take hours, Fassad! I can't afford to sleep that long while my brother could be closing in on another Needle!" Claus quickly said frantically. "J-just tell me where the next nearest Needle is and I'll go and protect it!"

"Claus, we've sent our Pigmasks to cover it. You need to sleep," Fassad said as he powdered his face.

"I can sleep all I want once Lucas is here in the base, safe, sound and away from anymore Needles!" Claus snapped.

"Very well Claus, I guess you give you me no choice," Fassad sighed as he focused on the young boy's eyes and began waving his hands around.

"Hmm?" Claus blinked. "What are you doing?"

"Oh just trying out something," Fassad said in a nonchalant way. "Why don't you keep watching?"

The boy watched curiously, trying to figure out what the Magypsy in disguise was doing. Claus wasn't sure why but he couldn't take his eyes off him, and for some reason it was getting harder to keep his eyes open. The boy knew his body was tired, but he didn't think simply standing still would make him want to pass out. Claus fought to keep his eyes open, but he just felt more and more sleepy. His mind was starting to become muddled as he slumped a bit. _What's… happening… to me…?_

The moves Fassad was doing began to get blurry, and Claus could've sworn he saw some kind of blue spiraling waves coming at him before it disappeared. Claus felt his consciousness slipping as he struggled to hold on to it. The boy was only vaguely aware that his synthetic eye was picking up signs of PSI being used on him. Pretty soon, the young Commander could no longer stay standing on his two feet and fell on his hands and knees, struggling to remain conscious.

"Aww, you look really exhausted Commander," Fassad said as Claus slowly looked back up to him, still doing those weird moves. "You should get some rest now."

Claus let out a moan when he tried demanding what Fassad did to him, but he was so sleepy he couldn't even speak anymore. His hands couldn't support him anymore and he laid down on the floor as Fassad picked him up bridal style. "Hypnosis, it never fails. Have a good rest, Commander." That was the last thing Claus heard before he closed his eyes and everything went dark.

* * *

" _Lucas! Wake up!" I called for my brother, who was sleeping upstairs. That sleepyhead could sleep through an earthquake if he could._

 _I sighed before running upstairs and walked over to him. Lucas was still in his pajamas and snoozing away… Hmm… why does he look smaller than I remember? It's like he got younger… huh, I feel smaller myself. I didn't think too much about it as I began shaking my twin brother. "Lucas! If you don't wake up then it'll be dark and we won't have time to play anymore!"_

 _Lucas groaned as he turned over in his bed. I gave a sigh before whispering in his ear. "If you don't wake up soon then I'm going to have to get the water bucket!"_

" _I'm up… I'm up…" Lucas groaned._

" _Great! I'll meet you outside then, okay?" I smiled to him before rushing to the door. I didn't know why I was in so much hurry going out today, I was just really excited about something._

 _When I stepped outside, I was surprised to see I was on the mountains instead of the usual outskirts of town. This place is where Grandpa Alec lived, so why is our house out here? I turned around and was shocked to see that my house_ was _actually Grandpa's house! But I could've sworn I was in my house just a second ago!_

 _Then I heard a familiar roar, it made me freeze before I turned to see a family of Dragos. They were the two parents and the baby Drago Lucas and I played with three years ago before… I frowned more as they approached us. Lucas came running outside, looking tired but excited._

" _Oh wow! The Dragos have a cute baby, Claus!" Lucas smiled to me._

 _I was about to answer before a feeling of foreboding came over me. It suddenly began storming out of nowhere. Thunder and lightning began to strike in the skies, heavy rain began to pour down on us. Lucas went from looking happy to looking terrified. I gasped when two of the Dragos began running away, the father and baby, but the mother stayed and began rolling on the ground as if it was in pain. What's going on? What's happening?_

" _Lucas! Claus!" I jumped when I heard my mother's voice, a voice I never thought I'd hear again after her brutal death three years ago._

" _M-Mommy!" Lucas called in fear as he held on to me tightly._

 _I could see Mom… but I could only see her shadow, I could not see her face clearly. She was running up to us before hugging us tightly, I could feel her warmth through this cold, wet rain. The Drago that was on the ground in pain suddenly stood up, and it had changed. Its right eye was replaced by a synthetic red eye, its body was covered in machine parts. It had become the Mecha Drago and it looked vicious as it roared at us!_

" _Kids! Run now!" Mom yelled as she pushed us to run._

" _Mommy!" Lucas yelled._

" _MOM!" I screamed for her, knowing exactly what's going to happen to her._

 _The Mecha Drago grabbed her body with its giant maw, Lucas screamed for her but I pulled him back, knowing nothing we do can save her, we had to get out of here and live… for Mom. I slipped and fell, along with Lucas, down into the river below us. I gasped and choked on the water, trying to remain on the surface and searching for Lucas, hoping he was able to survive the rapids. I gave a gasp as I was pulled underwater, unable to swim back up to the surface… am I dying? I couldn't move… and was sinking deeper…_

 _But I found myself landing on my feet and was able to breathe, as if I wasn't underwater anymore. What's going on? I looked around, trying to figure out what's happening. Then suddenly I saw a bright light up ahead… it was warm and comforting… I began walking to it… and soon I started running. I had to get to that light. As soon as I reached it I found myself face-to-face with a Needle. There it was, stuck on the ground, waiting to be pulled. I only stared at it this time, knowing I couldn't allow myself to pull another Needle._

" _The time has come. The Needles must be pulled, and you can't stop it no matter how hard you try." I stepped back when I heard that voice. The black Pigmask appeared in front of me. "It is destiny, you can't stop it. Just like how you couldn't stop the Drago from killing Hinawa."_

 _I glared at the black Pigmask, but for some reason my voice wouldn't speak, it was like I had gone mute. The black Pigmask just chuckled before he said, "And if you continue to try and stop the pulling of the Needles, things will only get harder for you as you fight against destiny. You might even lose someone else precious to you."_

 _Before I could even TRY to demand what he meant, I suddenly heard my brother's voice calling to me loudly._

" _Mommy… Daddy… Claus! CLAUUUUS!"_

 _LUCAS! I could see him, he's in danger and he's calling for help! LUUUUCAAAAAAAS!_

* * *

Claus suddenly sat up from his bed in his room in the Pigmask base, gasping as he panted. He could see he was still wearing his Commander uniform, but his helmet was on his desk.

"Lucas…"

Claus quickly jumped off the bed and grabbed his helmet. He didn't know where his brother was, he just knew he was in trouble and he needed him.

Adjusting his helmet, Claus closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the distress signal his brother sent him in his mind. The boy was trying hard to visualize where his brother could be and send the coordinates to his helmet, but the best he got was Lucas being in a snowy place and being buried alive by an avalanche. His stress and concern for Lucas getting the better of him, Claus hurried out of his room and began running down the hall for the nearest exit so he could fly to wherever that snowy place was.

"C-Commander! You're awake! S-shouldn't you wait for Fassad…?" Claus ran past a Pigmask Colonel, probably the same one who's been supportive of him.

"Not now, this is an emergency," Claus said seriously. "Where have all the Pigmasks been stationed to protect the Needle?"

"Huh? Well a lot of us were looking where the others are, but they're protecting a Needle that was seen on top of Snowcap Mountain," The Pigmask Colonel said.

"Thank you for the information," Claus said quickly. "Tell Fassad I went there to back them up, that is all." the boy finished before hurrying down the hall, not letting the Colonel say anything else. _If Lucas is in danger then I have to save him. He's my brother first and my enemy second._

As soon as Claus got outside, he activated his jetwings and quickly took off into the sky, using his helmet to help him map out the island where Snowcap Mountain is located at. The boy didn't slow down as he flew through the air, but he did notice it was getting dark, he must've slept for the past 7 or so hours. Silently cursing himself and Fassad's PSI Hypnosis, the boy hadn't noticed a red tint coming onto his face, his helmet covered the majority of it up, but he did notice a slight headache starting to form though that could just be because of Fassad's PSI used on him.

Claus didn't care about the slight headache, his main concern was getting to Snowcap Mountain as quickly as possible to save his brother, for all he knew Lucas could be suffocating under all that snow right now. The boy soon landed on the mountain. Seeing that the place was full of snow Claus was thankful he was wearing a jacket, but he could only imagine how freezing his brother must feel right now with his sleeveless shirt and casual shorts.

"Come on Lucas… where are you?" Claus's synthetic eye picked up faint signs of life, but they just seem to be the wild life here.

"PK Fire!" Claus shot out some hot flames over the snow, melting most of it down. "I don't think I'll find Lucas this way…"

"Commander!" Claus heard someone calling out to him. "When I saw those flames I thought it might've been you!" It was a Pigmask Captain.

"Pigmask, what are you doing here?" Claus asked. "Shouldn't you be protecting the Needle?"

"Actually I'm a scout. I was to try and slow down the kid that's pulling the Needles," The Pigmask Captain answered.

"... What happened to the kid?" The young Commander dared to ask but keeping his calm composure.

"Well… I shot a weak missile into a hill with a bunch of snow to cause an avalanche on them," The Pigmask Captain answer.

"...Why would you do that!? We're not trying to _kill_ them!" Claus snapped, feeling hot from anger that this Pigmask would do something so stupid.

The Pigmask Captain jumped in fear when the Commander suddenly became hostile. "Eep! B-but Commander I was ordered to slow them down and I thought a small avalanche wouldn't hurt them!"

"Did THAT look like a small avalanche to you!?" Claus growled as he gestured to all the snow and rocks that buried half the mountain.

"N-no, but I didn't know it'd be _that_ big!" The Pigmask Captain squealed. "B-but I'm sure they're fine! I-I saw that kid being carried by a man with a limp leg!"

"Being carried?" Claus frowned, that meant Lucas was alive but the fact he's being carried must've meant he's injured. "Where did they go?"

"I-I'm not sure… I-I think they went into a cave nearby," The Pigmask Captain answered nervously.

Claus was about to reply before his headache got worse and hard to ignore, the boy held his helmet and moaned a bit.

"C-Commander, are you okay? Do you have a headache?" The Captain asked in concern.

"I'm fine, just got a bit of a headache from Fassad is all," Claus said. "Listen, find that boy, and he better be alive or I'm going to do more than terminate your job, got it?"

"Y-yes sir!" The Pigmask Captain said quickly. "I-if you want I could guide you to where I last saw them, they couldn't have gotten too far."

"Yes, I would like that. Lead, now," Claus demanded and the Captain saluted before hurrying ahead.

As the Pigmask Captain lead Claus through the snowy mountain, Claus couldn't help but notice how thick the snow was here, and there were a lot of crystal dog-like beasts running around in packs.

* * *

 _This place was cold, I was thankful for my jacket and my inner PSI Fire to keep me warm. I just hope that Lucas is okay. This place looked like an avalanche went through recently… which of course it had._

Claus thought to himself before the Pigmask Captain suddenly stopped and looked scared about something. "C-Commander… did… did anyone tell you the Ultimate Chimera escaped from the lab recently?"

"What?" Claus looked up at the sudden subject of the Ultimate Chimera. "Why would you ask that suddenly?"

"B-because… I-I think th-that's it right now!" The Captain squealed, pointing at a huge, giant red creature with a mouth bigger than a hippo's. It gave a roar.

"What the-!?" Claus couldn't believe the thing came up _here_ out of all places! "Run soldier! Don't let it bite you!"

The Captain didn't need to be told twice; he took off faster than a Ten-Yeti sliding down a slippery slope, which Claus thought was pretty funny. The boy himself ran towards the monster, hoping to distract it and keep it away from the Captain; he may have been angry at him for hurting his brother, but he didn't want anyone to die, not when he could do something about it. If worse comes to worst, the boy knew he could just fly away, as long as his jetwings didn't get damaged that is.

"Over here you overgrown beast!" Claus shouted, making the chimera roar and run after him.

Claus hurried up the slopes, trying to find a way to get behind the chimera so he could shut it down, but it was too dangerous to go anywhere near the thing without getting his head bitten off… literally. The boy could try flying behind the monster, but even then it would still be dangerous without a distraction.

The Ultimate Chimera was a really fast runner, it's not even slowing down from running up the slippery slopes.

 _What does it take to get this thing to slow down?_ Claus thought to himself.

The boy grabbed the hilt of his Thunder Striker sword and activated it, he used it to cut through some logs to fall in the chimera's path, but it easily crushed through them. Claus knew he had to find another way to escape it… Then he saw a Ten-Yeti sliding across the slopes and got an idea. He concentrated on his Thunder Striker before pointing it at the slopes.

"PK Thunder!" He let loose a powerful discharge that destroyed the slopes and started a mini-avalanche towards Claus and the Ultimate Chimera.

"Whoa!" Claus activated his jetwings to fly away from the incoming mini-avalanche and buried the Ultimate Chimera. It gave a roar as the snow covered its body and the Ten-Yeti skied across it. "Whew… that was close…"

"Commander?" Claus blinked when he heard someone else calling him. "Oh thank goodness, I thought some wild lightning struck the slopes! I wasn't aware you'd be coming here!"

"Of course I'd be coming here, there's a Needle we need to protect after all!" Claus said. "But I'm looking for the one who can pull the Needles right now."

"Commander, you shouldn't be out here alone. You should come in and warm up first, then you can find him," The Pigmask suggested. "We have camp set up here so you can rest in it."

"I don't have time to rest," Claus said stubbornly.

"Well sir, since you have PSI, maybe you can find him better if you tried to concentrate on where he is. But you need better focus and to get better focus you need to rest," The Pigmask said logically.

Claus frowned a bit, but he did notice he was having trouble finding any signs of PSI with his synthetic eye or helmet, and both were connected to his PSI. "You may have a point there soldier…" _I may not be able to find Lucas if my PSI is low… I guess a short rest couldn't hurt. I just hope Lucas can last until I find him._

When Claus left with the Pigmask, he didn't notice the big, pointy red tail coming out of the snow and a muffled roar was rumbling from under the frozen water.

* * *

 _I followed the Pigmask into the camp, where I was surprised to see a lot of Pigmask Captains and a few Majors here too.. There were also Pork Tanks stationed around here. Heh, I guess Fassad wasn't kidding when he said he got this Needle covered. They all saluted to me as the Pigmask lead me into a tent with a fire cooking some nice smelling stew… come to think of it I hadn't eaten since before I left home… But I didn't stay awake for long. I closed my eyes to try and rest, but also to concentrate and see if I could find Lucas anywhere…_

 _I think I fell into a half asleep trance, because everything was dark and I couldn't move… my head felt like it wanted to explode now… ugh… what's wrong with me? Wait… I hear someone's voice... I see… ah! It's Lucas! Where is he? It looks like he's in a dark place… I opened my mouth to try to get him to hear me._

" _Lucas? Lucas! Where are you?" I waited a minute, but he didn't answer back. Can he not hear me? "Lucas please answer me!" I spoke louder._

" _C-Claus! I'm here Claus!" I couldn't help but feel relieved when he answered back._

" _Lucas? Oh good, you're safe. Where are you?" I asked him._

" _I… I don't know. Just somewhere really snowy. Are you okay Claus? How are we talking?" Lucas asked me. I guess he really is somewhere on this mountain if he's describing it as snowy since I doubt anywhere else would have snow at this time of year._

 _Admittedly I didn't know how we're talking, it just kind of happened. "I… I don't know… I just heard you screaming for help and I tried to find you. I got worried when I didn't hear you call back." I really was worried, but I'm glad to hear him now._

" _...But how are we talking now? I thought I was asleep," Lucas asked again, sounding confused._

 _Is it possible our PSI connected with each other even from this far away? Maybe he's closer than I thought. Still I can't let him know that… "Uh… maybe your PSI has something to do with it? It brought me to Magicant before anyways, so I wouldn't be surprised. A-anyways how are you doing?"_

" _I don't feel so good… I think I'm sick," Lucas answered me. He's sick?_

" _Y-you're sick? Oh Lucas… I wish I could be with you right now."_

" _Y-yeah… me too." I could hear him longing for me._

" _Just be strong, Lucas." I said to him, wishing I could reach out and hug him. I felt like my head wanted to explode and I suddenly woke up back in the tent._

* * *

"Commander? You don't look so good. Do you have a fever?" A Pigmask Major asked Claus in concern.

The boy had taken off his helmet before he closed his eyes to contact Lucas, and it showed the red tint over his face. "Ugh… just a headache… that got really bad after all that running around…" Claus groaned, rubbing his head.

"Maybe you should get back to your home, Commander. You might be sick," The Pigmask Major said in concern.

"I'll be fine, Pigmask Major. What's the status on the Needle and my bro- I mean the enemy?" Claus asked, hating that he had to call Lucas his enemy now that he knows he's alive and not in any immediate danger. The blond-haired boy may be sick but Claus is sure he's being well cared for.

"We're not sure where the enemy is, but the Needle's still safe and it's being carefully guarded by the Pigmasks and Pork Tanks. There's no way they'll get past us so easily," The Pigmask Major spoke proudly.

"That is very comforting to know," Claus said as he stood up and tried to ignore the pain in his head, but the pain spiked when he stood up and he couldn't help but groan.

"S-sir, you really shouldn't get up too fast," The Pigmask Major said in concern. "You look like you have a fever."

Claus frowned as his head felt like it was on fire from inside, the only time he remembered feeling this way was almost three years ago when he had PSI… fever… the boy's eyes widen as realization hit him, in both a sense of relief and horror.

 _Lucas said he wasn't feeling too good… at first I thought it was a cold or something, but I've been having this feverish headache too. It can't be a coincidence. We both seem to gain PSI fever whenever we're about to awaken a new PSI! But neither of us had PSI fever since almost three years ago- is it because our PSI had to mature before we could learn more? If that's true… then if I have PSI fever there's a very good chance Lucas… has PSI fever too! And that means… there's a very good chance the Pigmasks will fail to stop him because of whatever the new PSI Lucas could learn._

"Commander?" The Pigmask Major looked worried when Claus hadn't answered back in a while. "Look… maybe I should arrange a Pork Bean to come and take you back home to rest and get some medicine…"

"No… that won't be necessary Major," Claus said suddenly, he was pale but out of worry rather than the fever. "This fever is normal for me. But I have reasons to believe that the enemy's gaining power, it would be wise if I help with the defenses."

"You're going to help, Commander? But I assure you that we have everything under control sir! And normal or not, a fever is still a fever, we can't have you fighting in this condition sir," The Pigmask Major said with concern.

"It'll go away before too long, but I need to help. I know the enemy better than anyone here, and he's not a pushover," the young Commander warned. "He can use PSI like I can."

"O-oh… we were aware the enemy can use PSI Commander, that's why we had our men and Pork Tanks set up. I'm sure we'll be able to defend the Needle sir," The Pigmask Major said.

"Don't patronize me Major," Claus said in a commanding tone, causing the Major to squeal a bit. "Just let me try to reason with him, okay?"

"Y-yes sir. I'm sorry sir I didn't mean to patronize you sir," The Pigmask Major quickly said as he saluted.

Claus stood up and began walking out of the tent. "Keep an eye out when Luc- I mean the enemy gets here. I'm going to check out the Needle myself."

"Yes sir!" The Major saluted. "Oh, but what about your helmet sir?"

"Huh?" Claus turned to see his helmet was on the floor and picked it up. "Thank you soldier, it would've been awkward if I didn't have this on when the enemy came." he carefully placed the helmet over his head.

"Are you sure that's good for your headache-" Claus glared at him with his visible red eye. "I-I mean you do what you feel is best, Commander sir!"

* * *

Claus exited the tent and looked around, seeing a lot of low ranking Pigmasks and Pigmask Captains, just like before. His synthetic eye picked up on the Needle's energy nearby. After the first one the boy would never forget what that kind of mystic and divine energy felt like.

Claus walked past the Pigmasks as they saulted to him with respect, though he mostly ignored them as he followed the signal to the Needle. Looking down into a small valley, he saw a pink shelled house, a hot spring- there he saw Lucas, Kumatora, Duster and Boney all relaxing in- and behind the pink shelled house was the Needle itself. It was surrounded with Pork Tanks and Pigmasks. Claus was surprised the Magypsy didn't seem to notice or care that they were there.

The boy looked at the hot springs again, seeing Lucas laughing and talking with his friends. Claus sighed, he couldn't help but wish he was down there too, a part of the conversation. Despite his training, discipline and his status as the Commander, he was still a 13 year old boy who wished he could play with his brother, and looking at Lucas now laughing and talking with Boney, Kumatora and Duster in the hot springs together made him feel left out. They don't even know he was here.

 _As I was looking down at the small valley it was like a wake up call to me. I've never felt so… lonely and left out like this before. Lucas and I used to always hang out and played with our friends together. There was that time when Lucas had to go train his PSI with Kumatora and the Magypsies, but this felt different… it's like I just realized how little time I've spent with him as a kid anymore. Is it possible Lucas had moved on because of how many times I've left him behind?_

"Commander sir?" Claus snapped out of his musings when he heard the Pigmask Major coming to him. "Are you feeling okay? Does your head still hurt?"

"My head's fine, Major," Claus said, though it did still hurt he was distracted when he was watching his brother interact with his friends. "I'm going to the Needle and debrief the soldiers. The enemy is here and it won't be long until he gets to the Needle."

"He's here, already?" The Major said in shock.

"Yes." Claus pointed at the people and dog in the hot spring. "Do you see them?"

"You mean that kid, the man with the limp, a lady with pink hair and a dog? _They're_ our enemies, Commander?" The Pigmask was clearly surprised about this.

"You didn't even know what they looked like?" Claus frowned as the Major shook his head. "Yes, that's them. They're a lot stronger than they look, don't let the fact that they're not big strong men fool you. Why do you think your Commander is a 13 year old boy?"

"O-oh… good point sir," The Pigmask Major said, sounding rather embarrassed that he forgot Claus was only 13 years old.

Claus stood up and jumped, using the repellers from his jetwings to slow his descent towards behind the pink shelled house, to where the army are protecting the Needle.

"Commander sir!" All the Pigmasks immediately saluted as soon as the boy landed in front of them.

Claus looked over at the Needle- already feeling that tug, that urge, that want and need to pull the Needle, but he resisted as he reminded himself why he was here. _There's no way I'll make the same mistake again._

* * *

"Pigmasks of all ranks!" Claus announced loudly, addressing the soldiers. "I know you are all here today to protect the Needle and keep the world safe. However, I feel I must remind you we are to take them prisoner, alive, do not fight to kill. Stun them, paralyze them, knock them unconscious if you must, but do _not_ do any permanent damage to them, is that clear?"

"Sir yes sir!"

"We are not an army of killers or tyranny, we are an army of peace and world rebuilders! We are not working so hard to fix this messed up, almost dead world just to kill the people still living in it! We are Pigmasks, we help people, we want them to live and have a generation in this world, a generation where the world is filled with beauty and life again. We cannot let the Dark Dragon awaken! We _will_ stop the one pulling the Needles, not by death but by reasoning!" Claus announced as the Pigmasks pumped their fists in the air in agreement.

The boy's red robotic eye picked up signs of strong PSI coming from in the house, they were close. Claus really hoped he didn't have to fight his own brother, or his dog, and his PSI fever hadn't run its course yet so he wouldn't be able to fight as effectively as he wanted right now anyway. "Here they come. Pigmasks, ready your weapons! Remember, do not be the first to fire."

They braced themselves as the door opened, revealing Lucas, Kumatora, Duster and Boney coming out. The group of four were shocked to see all the Pigmasks, Pork Tanks and the Commander himself surrounding the Needle.

"What the hel- what is this!?" Kumatora shouted in shock.

"Lucas… I'm afraid I can't allow you to pull anymore Needles. Surrender now," Claus said to his brother in a firm tone.

"Hey, what is this about? We did NOT go through all this hel-" Kumatora started to say before Lucas spoke up.

"Are you trying to stop us?" Lucas said. "Why? We're on the same side, after all you're supposed to be fixing the world, right? The Dark Dragon can do just that! So why are you stopping us?"

Claus answered his brother's question. "Because we do not want to rely on such a dangerous power to fix this world."

"But the Dragon will be friendly," Lucas argued. "I'm sure it'll make this world reborn into how it used to be!"

"The Dragon will kill everyone before it starts this world over on a clean slate, Lucas," Claus said in a firm tone. "We're not going to let that happen. We want to rebuild this world with our own hands, not rely on a Dragon that may or may not destroy the world."

"But I'm sure it'll spare everyone, it'll just purify the evil and make the world reborn," Lucas said softly but still enough to be heard.

Claus sighed and said, "Lucas… I am aware of the legend that the Dragon will inherit the heart of whomever pulls the Seven Needles, or whomever pulls the most Needles. And I know you have a good, kind and gentle heart and wouldn't hurt a fly, but we are not willing to take that chance. And humans are the ones who messed up this world in the first place, the cycle will only continue even if you do succeed and awaken the Dragon. Don't you think it's better for us to rebuild what we ourselves destroyed?"

Lucas looked hesitant on that and Claus was starting to feel relieved when he saw his brother was taking this into consideration. "Uh… well…"

But then Kumatora spoke up. "Don't listen to this masked man, Lucas. He's just trying to trick you by sounding like a righteous prick who thinks he knows what's best for everyone, but he and all these Pigsnots only want to keep us in their little world of rules. You know what we have to do Lucas, all the Magypsies and the world is counting on you to pull the Needles."

Claus wanted to strangle Kumatora right now, she had him and the Pigmasks all wrong! And had it been any other time, Claus would've laughed at the 'Pigsnot' comment. "No Lucas, we simply just want you to stand down. We only want what's best for all of us and the world."

"He's working with the Pigsnots, we can't trust him or any of them!" Kumatora snapped. "Besides, they have us all at gunpoint, do you really think we could just trust them? Heck for all we know that Commander is just a hypocrite or is lying to you! He's the one who pulled that last Needle, because he's the only other one who can use PK Love and thus the only other one who _can_ pull the Needles!"

The Pigmasks all gasped at that, as if shocked that the girl just accused the Commander of pulling a Needle and committing the ultimate treason for doing so. Claus knew he was treading on thin ice since there was really no way to argue with that answer.

"You see? He has no answer to that. The Pigsnots must be pulling the Needles to use the Dragon's powers for their own bidding and we can't let them do that!" Kumatora said while pointing at the now sweating helmet wearing boy.

"But why would he do that and not remove this one?" Duster asked, finally speaking up for the group of four.

"Maybe it's so he can be all 'self righteous' and try to keep Lucas from pulling any more," Kumatora growled.

"Is it true? Were you the one who pulled that Needle at Doria's place?" Lucas asked the now nervous Commander.

Claus could already hear murmurings among the Pigmasks behind him, this was not looking good for him. "Lucas… I meant what I said; I will not allow you to pull anymore Needles, it has to stop. We can't allow the Dark Dragon to awaken and wreck this world, killing all the people living in it."

"Alright, I've had it with you and your Pigsnots!" Kumatora snapped hotly. "After all the things I've went through getting here- we are NOT leaving until that Needle is pulled! Now get out of our way before I make you!"

Claus could hear the army behind him tensing and ready to fight. "Kumatora please, don't do anything reckless. We only want to rebuild the world without getting the Dark Dragon involved."

"SHUT IT! PK THUNDER BETA!" She shot out lightning at them, causing the Pigmasks to spread out from the sudden attack.

Claus hissed as he took the hit, it hurts like heck but he had some resistance to it due to specializing in electricity himself. "Fine, you want to do it the hard way? Then we'll do it the hard way. Pigmasks, attack!" And the battle was on.

* * *

The Pigmasks didn't hesitate to shoot their weapons at the group. Lucas reacted quickly. "Shield!" He stood in front of the group and shielded them with a barrier around himself.

"PK Fire Gamma!" Kumatora summoned huge bursts of flames at almost half the army, burning them.

Claus was shocked when he heard the word 'gamma' being used, he had never seen anything stronger than a Beta of a PSI before. The boy's head was killing him, but he knew he had to do something, after all he couldn't just stand by forever. Claus didn't want to hurt his brother or Boney, so he mostly aimed for Kumatora since she's the one who's making everything a lot harder than it had to be.

The boy turned his metal arm into the cannon mode and grabbed the hilt of the Thunder Striker before taking a second to activate it, transforming it into a lightning sword. The boy charged at Kumatora before swinging the Thunder Striker down at her, she jumped back but couldn't avoid the blade entirely, she hissed in pain. Claus didn't hit her too hard as he didn't want to hurt even Kumatora, because she was supportive of him when she didn't know he was the Commander of the Pigmasks.

Boney suddenly ran up at him and tackled him in the chest, making Claus lose his balance as his own dog bit his shoulder. The boy hissed in pain, he hated that Boney was actually hurting him like this, it felt so wrong and he was hurt by it, but he knew that Boney would never hurt him if he knew who he was, the dog was only defending those precious to him.

"Get off him you mangy mutt!" Claus heard a Pigmask snapping before grabbing the dog's neck and throwing him off the boy.

Duster came running at them and kicked the Pigmask who helped get Boney off his back, then he threw a smoke bomb at them, making it hard for them to see. It didn't work so well on Claus because his synthetic eye couldn't produce tears and could still see him, and his organic eye was protected by the helmet. Claus could've easily pierced Duster with his Thunder Striker as he was standing right over him, but instead he shoved him down and away.

"PK Love Beta!" Lucas suddenly shouted, catching Claus's attention.

 _Did he just say PK Love BETA!?_ Claus thought in disbelief as he didn't think a PSI as powerful as PK Love HAD levels!

Lucas summoned blue energy at the army, this was was far bigger and far more threatening than the alpha stage, it explode hexagonally, almost destroying half the Pork Tanks, crumbing many of them into unrecognizable dents and buried most of the soldiers.

"The boy is dangerous!" One of the Pigmasks squealed in fear after witnessing the PK Love beta.

 _How did Lucas's PK Love get so powerful?_ Claus knew they were in trouble with his brother able to use such a powerful PSI.

More Pork Tanks fired missiles at the group, this time shattering the shield Lucas had around him and pushing them back. Boney whimpered in pain as the missiles exploded over them.

"Lucas, why don't you try that new PSI you awakened not long ago?" Kumatora suggested. "It might help."

"I don't even know what it does," Lucas said timidly.

"You'll have to try it then. We have an entire army to beat!" She said.

"A-alright… Counter!" Lucas set up a golden shield around himself.

Claus was watching as he wasn't too willing to join in the fight himself unless he had to, still holding his Thunder Striker and kept his arm in cannon mode. The boy decided he'll just be defending the Needle rather than fighting the group actively, and it helps him see just how much stronger they've become.

When the Pigmasks tried firing their laser guns at Lucas, it bounced off the golden shield and hit the Pigmasks themselves. When the Pork Tanks fired their missiles at Lucas, the golden shield bounced the missiles right back at them, causing the tanks to take the hit instead. Seeing this, Lucas used the Counter to his advantage as he jumped in front of one of his friends to protect them and let the Counter do its thing.

"Yes! Counter is one of the most powerful and useful assist PSI known to Magypsies!" Kumatora smirked.

Claus gritted his teeth, he knew at this rate the soldiers will just take themselves out with Lucas using that Counter. _I wonder if Counter works on PSI?_ Claus thought to himself.

As if to test this, he decided to try a PSI attack in the alpha stage. "PK Freeze!" Shooting out the ice crystals from his hand, the attack managed to bypass the golden shield around his brother and freeze the body. Lucas yelped at the sudden cold over his body.

It ached Claus to see his brother in pain like that, but was relieved to see that Counter could not keep out PSI. Lucas looked at the Commander in shock, as if he just betrayed him. Claus looked away from Lucas's puppy dog eyes, he hated hurting his brother like that.

"How dare you hurt Lucas! You'll pay for that! PK Thunder beta!" Kumatora unleashed lightning upon the Pigmasks.

Claus hissed as it was attracted to his Thunder Striker, both being made of electricity. The boy glared at her as he aimed the cannon at her and fired a PSI Blast. Kumatora yelped as the blast hit her pretty hard.

"Lifeup!" Lucas put his hand over her shoulder and healed her wounds from that blast.

 _Dang it, how are we supposed to knock them out if they can be healed almost right away? Lucas, for once I wish you didn't have Lifeup._ Claus irritably thought to himself. To make matters worse was the fact that Lucas still had that golden counter shield up and his soldiers can't attack him without getting hit by their own attacks themselves. Already they were down to just three Pork Tanks and they were in critical condition.

The Pigmasks managed to fire their weapons at Boney and Duster, though the two were fast and able to dodge pretty quickly. Duster used his Wall Staples to trap most of the Pigmasks against the wall of the mountain or the ground while Boney viciously bit down the foolish soldiers that got in too close. Kumatora joined in the fight as she burned them with her PK Fire, she's really good with that one in particular.

While what's left of the defense team were dealing with Boney, Duster and Kumatora- Lucas was heading towards the Needle to pull it. Claus leaped in front of him, standing in his way. "Don't come any closer to this Needle, Lucas."

Lucas frowned at him before he said, "Why are you helping the Pigmasks? I know you're nice deep down inside. You don't really want this, do you?"

"I don't like having to fight you, but if you continue to pull the Needles… then you and I are enemies, Lucas," Claus said coldly, not wanting Lucas to see how much this was tearing him up… and his headache was getting worse.

"But if I don't do this then the world will stay dead. In fact it may even keep dying until even Nowhere Island is dead. We can't live like that, surely you agree!" Lucas argued.

"We're doing our best to fix this world, Lucas. But we can't do that if you wake up the Dark Dragon," Claus argued back but in a calmer still cold tone.

Lucas shook his head and said, "No, don't you get it? This world is dead, it's beyond our own hands to fix it. I know you have your own beliefs, but the Dark Dragon is the only way to rebirth the world so life can flourish once again!"

"Our beliefs are true! We don't need some power of the Dragon to fix this world! We've been growing vegetation and letting animals live outside of this little island! It may be slow, but little by little we can fix this world! That's why we can't have you pulling the Needles!" Claus argued back, raising his own voice without meaning to.

"Please, just stand aside. This is for the best," Lucas begged.

"No, you can't!" Lucas was walking past him to get to the Needle. "Stop!"

Claus tried to grab him, but the Counter barrier pushed him back. The boy groaned as this only worsen his headache and he could hardly even think straight with such strong pain in his head. "Ugh…" he groaned, trying to stand up to stop his brother.

Lucas did in fact stop when he heard the Commander groaning. "What's wrong with your head?" He noticed that the masked boy was holding on the sides of his helmet as if his head was in pain.

"P-please… don't do this Lucas," Claus begged, feeling pathetic that he had to beg, but his head was in so much pain he couldn't even stand right now, and his love for Lucas made it impossible for him to attack.

Lucas sighed before turning back to the Needle. "I'm… I'm sorry… I must do it. Everyone is counting on me," The boy reached out and touched the Needle.

"Please stop!" Claus, in desperation to stopping his brother, jumped at him but ended up touching the Needle too. "H-huh?"

" _Lucas… Claus…"_

The Needle glowed and the young Commander heard his mother's voice was calling out to him and Lucas very clearly. Claus immediately let the Needle go in fear that he might pull it. This cost him greatly as Lucas's PK Love came over his hands as he looked like he was in a trance-like state.

* * *

Claus gasped before he backed away and yelled at the remaining soldiers. "RETREAT NOW! WE'VE FAILED!" He knew once the pulling began there was no stopping it, it was best to just get the heck out of there while the whole dramatic scene of pulling the Needle out took place. "GATHER ANYONE UNCONSCIOUS OR INJURED AND GET INTO THE SHIPS NOW!"

All the conscious Pigmasks squealed as they bum rushed Kumatora, Duster and Boney to get out of their way and picked up their unconscious or injured comrades and were hurrying to the ships that were flying down to pick them up. The other three looked they were about to give chase, but Claus stepped in front of them and held out his Thunder Striker sword threateningly, warning them if they got any closer he would not hesitant to strike them down. Of course Claus's horrid headache made it extremely hard to seem intimidating, at least it was still enough to keep them from chasing after his soldiers.

Lucas was already extracting the Needle from the ground just as the Pork Ships began taking off into the sky. Claus could see the Needle's tip disappeared and he knew that meant it was about to be extracted. He turned to the other three before he said, "Fine, you win this time. But we _will_ be back and we _will_ stop you."

"You don't look so good," Duster commented in surprise concern for the Commander.

"... I sense… something growing within you… is that PSI fever you have?" Kumatora demanded.

Claus didn't answer, instead he activated his jetwings before using it to take off into the sky. As soon as Claus caught up with the ships of his troops, that's when he heard that loud noise before the world began shaking.

"BRACE YOURSELVES!" Claus shouted.

Thankfully they couldn't feel the shakes as much in the air, but they could still see the earth trembling under them as well as the loud heartbeats. The psychedelic lights weren't making it any easier for them. After about a minute, the shaking and lights finally stopped and everything returned to normal, or as normal as it could get. Claus bit his lip, he knew that they have failed this mission and now _three_ of the seven Needles have been pulled.

" **What do we do now, Commander?"** Claus heard someone say in his helmet. It's a good thing Dr. Andonuts upgraded his helmet so he could receive signals from their communication devices when needed.

The boy answered with his helmet. "A lot of our men are hurt, we lost a lot of Pork Tanks back there. This mission is a failure, we need to return to base and report this. The enemy's gotten much stronger than we had anticipated and it's dangerous to go into battle without knowing what they're capable of... Maybe Commander Fassad or Master Porky might have a plan for us once we tell them what happened. Don't leave any detail out of that battle, we're going to need as much advantage as we can get from now on if we hope to protect the remaining four Needles."

" **Yes sir. Heading back to base now."** Claus followed the ships past the mountains and towards the underground base near Tazmily Village. It was going to be another long night.

 _It was a long flight back to the base, but I didn't care. I had a lot to think about and flying did help soothe me enough to let me think. It does feel pretty cool to be flying side-by-side with the Pork Ships, but I had other concerns right now. My head still ached like crazy and I hope this PSI fever will pass soon. During that battle, Lucas used two PSI powers I've never seen him used before; Counter and that more powerful PK Love. I've never seen a PK Love that powerful before, at least in a controlled level, and it scares me... especially if it can get even_ more _powerful… could I do that too? I'll have to ask Fassad about it. That Counter is also dangerous and devastating to the army, none of our weapons will work on it and it'll just hurt_ us _instead, only PSI can get through that Counter shield. We're going to need to counteract it somehow, but as of now I'm the only one who could stand up to Lucas at this rate, and I was unable to make myself fight him. Why does it feel like everything's gotten harder and heavier lately? I curled my hands into fists, there's no way we'll be able to protect those Needles if we can't match Lucas's PSI power, not to mention Kumatora, Duster and even Boney have become a lot more dangerous too. We're going to have to watch our step and plan out our next defense more carefully. You better watch out Lucas, because the more Needles you pull... the more desperate we become._


	27. Chapter 27: Trouble in Saturn Valley

**DarkFoxKit: *Is brushing Fyre's back with a brush* You seem so tense lately. Just relax while I continue to brush you~**

 **Donfyre: *is pouting* One, I'm a Wooper, that feels weird! And second, I just got back here and you suddenly try to make me "relax"! DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: Oh, so you prefer water over brushes? *starts licking your cheek* Yup, you needed a bath. :3**

 **Donfyre: Hey! *shakes my head* W-what're you doing that here for? And thaaaanks, thanks for telling all the readers that I needed a bath. *glares at her***

 **DarkFoxKit: No problem~ Oh, the camera's rolling! We better get to the reviews!**

 **Donfyre: Yeah, would've been nice if you realized the camera was rolling before the affection and licking and saying I needed a bath. DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: You're a Water type, a bath is what you do everyday! Ahem… you want to take this review first?**

 **Donfyre: *pouts* … Huh? Oh, sure!**

 **Shimo no ko: Yeah, sorry again for not being clear about how we weren't gonna update for two weeks. ^^; But thanks for still waiting patiently! Anyways, yeah, Claus is under a looot of pressure and it's nice to know we managed to capture some of that suspense and mystery in Mother 3. And that's an interesting theory you got there. XP**

 **DarkFoxKit: Hee, hee, hee, I'm glad you're enjoying it too~**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: Yeah, poor Claus (how many times are we going to say that? ^^') has to deal with a lot. Let's hope he comes out sane and alive when this is all over. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: "Sane and alive"? That sounds horrible. :P**

 **Marin / sunflowermaiden210: You check that frequently? You don't have to y'know, we update every Monday unless otherwise stated. Anyways, you'll be seeing more of stressed out Claus. Whether that's a good thing in your view or not. XP Foxy here loves tormenting her characters. And I'm kinda concerned you get headaches like that. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yes, I do love tormenting my characters. ^^' And I wouldn't have Claus reveal his identity that soon of course. XP**

 **Connor the speling pro: Thanks, that's really appreciated. And well writers have different preferences when they write. Yours is to just get right to the point, while I prefer to add in scenes even if they may not be all that necessary to the plot. It's those little details that many readers enjoy, while admittedly it could turn some off, it is impossible to please everyone. As for Fassad and Claus, they're not exactly against each other, Fassad is just worried for Claus's health while Claus himself is too anxious and worried for both his brother and the Needle.**

 **Donfyre: I actually like getting to the good parts too, skipping areas I feel necessary. ^^; But this is still Fox's story, and she likes her details. XP**

 **DarkFoxKit: Am I the only one who likes adding in those scenes? DX**

 **Donfyre: *pats Fox with my tail* Those scenes are still nice, Fox. c:**

 **Anyways! You wanna see more of Claus's guilt at hiding his identity from Lucas? Oooooh boy… ^^;**

 **Thanks for the review as always! And see ya next week. XP**

 **FanofFiction123:**

 **DarkFoxKit: I'm happy to hear you found it worth waiting the two weeks. :D And I suppose being in a way would mature anyone quickly, especially when losing body parts. ^^' Hey, the actual game in Mother 3 doesn't even reveal the Masked Man's identity until the very end of the game. I know you're anxious, but I have my reasons for not revealing Claus's identity yet. Heh, Fassad's dance is open for interpretation. And more role reversal with Claus being reluctant to fight Lucas! XD**

 **Donfyre: ROLE REVERSAL! :D See ya next week!**

 **PK Gossamer: Huh… we received your review exactly 12 hours different from when you say you posted it. That's cool! It reminds me of when I went to the Philippines to visit family, the 12 hour time difference was excruciating to communicate with Fox. And I'm kinda concerned that you're up that late just to review. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Well don't worry too much about Kumatora, there will be character growth with her. I'm very happy and relieved to hear that you like this take on the missile thing, since the rouge Pigmasks wouldn't dare get in Lucas's way, and the actual Pigmasks themselves are not trying to kill them. Yeah, tiger mom's aren't exactly an ideal parent. ^^' But glad to know you enjoyed Duster's little heart to heart with Lucas.**

 **Donfyre: Um… that's what I do, like… every day. ^^; The whole studying thing? For a reeeaally long time? Even on weekends? Though I still socialize… kinda… ish. Most of my socialization is with Fox. A-anyways! You see Duster as a hero for what he's been through? Yeah, he's pretty cool since he has a strict father like that but is really skilled.**

 **What does that insinuate about my age? ^^; Oh, you happened to be born just before the Chinese New Year? Yikes… that sucks. I was born right after, lucky me. And nice not-obvious-at-all hints you gave there. XP But it's cool that we're both born on the same year! And thanks! c:**

 **This is your main review now that's coming up? Y-you write a loooot… ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Claus is a lot like Lucas in this story, so when he makes a mistakes, especially a bad one, he tends to really take it to heart. Sounds like someone I know. *looks at Fyre* Anyways, I like your theory about the Needles and how the Dragon itself is drawing the PK Love users into pulling the Needle. That's pretty much what I had in mind, though it's not directly stated in the story. I'd say PSI users use Hypnosis to put people to sleep because it's less of a red flag than manipulating their minds. ^^' I'm sure you'll get your chance commenting on the black Pigmask soon. And time did pass a lot during Lucas's little journey through the mole cricket's dungeon and on their way up the Snowcap Mountain.**

 **Donfyre: H-hey! The disappointment you could receive from making mistakes is horrible! *pouts* A-aaanyways…**

 **Yep! But the Ultimate Chimera won't be going down… :3 And you're really liking these Claus reactions. But… not so much with Kumatora. *pouts* We weren't trying to make her "annoying", per se. We just wanted that set up as her attitude both for comedic purposes and to show her as, ironically, somewhat conservative in her beliefs. But, if you see her like that, well… to each his own. ^^; And we don't have to do everything verbatim according to the game, now do we? XP It is fanfiction!**

 **Anyways, sorry if that response came off as hostile in any way. It's just that I do most of Kumatora's lines, soooo… yeah. Anyways, thanks for the review! Albeit… the very late-in-the-morning-for-you review. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: I did the Kumatora in the Snowcap Mountain though, since Fyre was gone while we were writing that chapter. I apologize if I went overboard with her personality. And anyways, about the Counter thing; remember this isn't the game. The attack can still hurt of course, but the damage is reduced a lot, and someone as tanky as Lucas can endure a lot of hits. I would imagine that physical attacks gets bounced off right back at the user when striking against the Counter shield. And there's no turn based battle in this story, so Counter in this story last as long as Lucas can keep it up. As for Claus's PSI fever lasting longer than Lucas's, it's mostly a mentality thing here. Unlike Lucas, Claus didn't get a lot of rest, nor had he been relaxing in the hot springs that helps awaken the PSI technique faster. So that's why Claus's PSI fever lasted longer than Lucas's. And ideally it would be cool to give Claus PK Ground or Starstorm, but I feel it's too powerful and early for him to learn it here. Anyways, goodnight to ya! XD**

 ***DarkFoxKit turns to Fyre*: You seem sleepy yourself.**

 **Donfyre: H-huh? Oh, sorry. Responding to the lengthy reviews kinda saps at the energy. And then there's the fact that we do these AN's pretty late at night…**

 **DarkFoxKit: True. Alrighty then! *picks up the sleepy Wooper and jumped into a bed* Then we shall sleep now! :3 Dear readers, I am DarkFoxKit, my sleepy friend is Donfyre, and we look forward to hearing from you! *holds Fyre like a stuffed animal***

 **Donfyre: *yawns* See all of yas next week, readers! … Y-you're huggling me before the camera shut off, aren't you Fox? DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: :3**

* * *

 **Chapter 27: Trouble in Saturn Valley**

After the Needle was pulled and Lucas snapped out of the trance, he fell to his butt on the snow and sighed in relief, glad that the army had retreated. Although he felt like he was betrayed when the Commander said he was against them.

 _I don't understand… why would he do this? I'm sure he pulled that last Needle, so why is he acting like he's against it?_ Lucas shook his head. _I'm sure he's doing what he thinks it's best… but does this mean we're really enemies?_

"Lucas, are you okay?" Kumatora asked as she, Duster and Boney approached him.

"I'm fine… just tired is all," Lucas answered.

Boney licked his cheek and wagged his tail. _"I'm glad you're okay. But that Commander was kinda… familiar… when I bit him I could've sworn his yelp sounded very familiar but I couldn't place it."_

"That Commander… I don't know… he seems pretty young, like a kid almost," Duster said.

"Don't be silly, he's probably just really short. Nobody would place a kid as their military commanding officer!" Kumatora said with a huff as if Duster just said unicorns would come out of rainbows.

"But didn't you notice? His voice sounded pretty high, like he hadn't hit puberty yet," Duster said with suspicions.

" _Either that or he's really a girl,"_ Boney chuckled beside Lucas.

"Well now, looks like that took a lot longer than I expected~." The group turned to see Lydia came out of 'her' house and is flickering in and out of existence. "But at least you managed to get it done~!"

"I guess… this is goodbye, Lydia," Kumatora said sadly.

"Oh don't be sad my dear. I know goodbyes are hard, but be happy for we are now one step closer to a new era," Lydia said with a smile. "But here dear, take this memento of me if it'll help make you feel better. Take good care of it~."

Lydia gave Kumatora a black eyeliner and the pink haired girl nodded. "Thank you Lydia, I'll cherish it."

"We'll be sure to get the other Needles as well," Duster promised.

" _You can count on us!"_ Boney barked.

"I wish you four the best of luck then!" Lydia said. "Oh and that nice young man in the silly pig suit is going to take care of my bunnies for me. Now I can go without regret." 'She' said before 'her' body finally disappeared in a twinkle, leaving no trace of 'her' existence behind.

* * *

Lucas looked back at the now misty substance where the Needle used to be… before he had pulled it, the Masked Man touched the Needle as well and he could've sworn he heard his mother calling out to him and Claus… but Claus wasn't here… was he? _I hope Claus is okay… I haven't seen him since he left home that night on our birthday…_

"So what should we do now?" Duster asked.

"Find the next Needle of course," Kumatora said as if it was obvious.

"But where should we go to find it?" Duster asked.

"Let's just find a way off this mountain first and then we'll ask around if anyone had seen a glowing Needle stuck in the ground," The PSI girl replied.

Lucas looked into Lydia's house and saw the Pigmask Captain they found unconscious had removed his mask and is feeding the bunnies some lettuces. The boy slowly walked in.

" _What're you doing, Lucas?"_ Boney asked.

"Shh, stay there Boney. I won't be long," The boy replied to his dog friend before approaching the unmasked Pigmask. "Um… excuse me…"

The chubby man took notice of the blond haired boy and said, "Ah… you must be… the boy who's been pulling the Needles… I saw everything that happened out there."

"Y-yeah... I'm sorry you got left behind," Lucas said timidly.

"Ah well… I decided to quit. I promised that nice man… lady… to watch over their rabbits since they saved me." The man said. "You and I are enemies, so I won't help you, but… I will tell you that there's a white box at the tip of the mountain, you could probably use that to get down the mountain faster."

Lucas sighed at the enemies comment, but he supposed anyone who is or was in the Pigmask army wouldn't agree with him pulling the Needles. "Thank you."

"You just remind me of our Commander. He can be pretty harsh sometimes but he's a really nice kid," The man said.

Lucas stopped and looked back at the man, surprised by what he said. "Your Commander is a _kid_?"

"... I've said too much already. Just go," The chubby man said, turning his back on Lucas.

The 13 year old sighed but closed the door, turning to see Kumatora, Duster and Boney were looking at him. Lucas's eyes widen before blushing in embarrassment.

"So now that you're done talking to the new rabbit keeper, shall we find a way off this mountain?" Kumatora said.

"Actually he said there's a white box we can use to get down the mountain faster," Lucas said. "And it's near the tip of the mountain, which is just a short of walk from here."

"Are you sure we can trust him? He was a Pigmask before." Duster asked, uneasy about that.

"It wouldn't hurt to check it out," Lucas shrugged. "If he's right then we can save a lot of time."

" _I'm all for it. I wouldn't want to have to go through that mole cricket dungeon of a home again."_ Boney shivered at the thought.

Kumatora paled as she thought of being forced of going through there again. "Okay, we'll see if there's this white box there that can get us off the mountain."

* * *

 _I was glad the walk to the top of the snowy mountain wasn't too far off. The four of us went around the tip and found that big white box the former Pigmask Captain told us about._

"Alright, here's the box, but now what?" Duster asked. "There's nothing in it."

"I think _we're_ supposed to get in it," Lucas suggested.

"Can it fit all of us?" Kumatora asked. "That looks like it'll be a tight squeeze."

Boney gave a whine as it really didn't look all that comfortable. Duster was the first to go into it. "It's a lot more roomier than it looks. Come on, if we want to get off this mountain we have to get in here."

Kumatora sighed, "Fine. Move over." She pushed Duster a bit to make room for her. "Alright… who's next?"

"You go in next Boney." Lucas said as he patted his loyal friend.

" _Alright…"_ Boney began squeezing himself between Duster and Kumatora.

"Is there enough room in there for me?" Lucas asked.

"I-I don't think so Lucas… maybe you could try squeezing in?" Duster said, feeling already crushed.

"Hmm… I know! Maybe I can ride on the outside!" Lucas suddenly said with a smile.

"Wait, what do you mean by that-" Kumatora began asking but Lucas already closed the door. "Lucas!"

"Just hang on tight! We're going for a ride!" Lucas yelled as he pushed the white box down the slopes. "Here we go!"

The white box slide down the snow as Lucas quickly jumped on top and hung tightly. The box picked up speed as it went down… down… down… and Lucas's eyes widened as there was a curved edge ahead and before he knew it, he and the metal box that contained his friends went flying off into the air!

"WHOOOOAAAAAA!" Lucas screamed as he was now flying through the sky.

While he was up there, he couldn't help but look around and take in his surroundings… he had never flown before and had always wondered what it would be like to see what the birds see in the sky. It felt thrilling and wonderful! The view was breathtaking as they were passing by the mountain and the fields.

 _It felt so free being up here. Although I'm not actually flying it felt so nice being way up here, but also scary since it's a long way down. I wonder if this is what the Masked Man sees whenever he's off flying with those fancy pair of mechanical wings of his. I wish he could take me flying, but I guess it'll never happen. I want to enjoy this moment for as long as it lasts… the cloud were thin yet so close I could touch them. I could see some birds flying beside us as they chirped. Then I looked down to see we were coming over Tazmily… and… the ground is getting bigger? … No wait… we're falling. Uh-oh..._

* * *

Lucas squeaked in fear as the white box was now descending at a rapid pace. They passed by the town, by his house and heading towards the graveyard- THUD! CRASH! "WAAAAAAH!" The box hit the ground and the force was enough to send Lucas flying off of it as it flipped over a few times before stopping beside one of the tombstones. Lucas himself flew over at Osohe Castle.

"Ow!" The boy groaned as he landed face first. "Ugh…" He sat up and rubbed his face for a minute before opening his eyes, glad to see he landed in one piece… then he noticed a glass bottle with a letter inside it beside him. "Hmm?" Curious as to what it could be, he picked up the bottle and opened the cork, taking out the paper and saw some kind of strange writing. He could read it but the handwriting was kinda odd, almost like a kid sprawled over every letter.

"BIG TROUBLE. THIS WAY, COME TO UNDERGROUND GRAVE."

"What?" Lucas blinked. It was hard to to read but he figured whoever wrote this wanted him to use the secret tombstone that took him into the underground tunnels before. Looking back, he stood up and walked back towards the graveyard.

Kumatora, Duster and Boney were crawling out of the white metal box, all three looking quite sick and dizzy. Lucas couldn't help but chuckle as he held the letter in his hand. "Heh… uh… looks like we made it back to Tazmily."

"What the bloody heck just happened Lucas!?" Kumatora snapped.

"We sort of went flying through the air… and crash landed here," Lucas answered sheepishly.

"... And we _survived_?" Duster said in disbelief.

" _Well… uh… I guess that's one way to travel,"_ Boney gave a small whine.

"Ugh… we're never going to slide down on top of an icy mountain again! Next time we're teleporting! It's less hazardous!" Kumatora snapped.

"Heh… w-well… uh… I found this letter. Maybe it could lead us to the next Needle?" Lucas said sheepishly as he held out the letter he found.

"Lucas, why would some random letter from some random guy be any help to us?" Kumatora asked.

"Well… helping that mole cricket eventually led us to Lydia's Needle, didn't it?" Lucas pointed out timidly.

"He makes a good point Kumatora," Duster said with a sheepish shrug.

"Besides, we don't have any other leads, so why not?" Lucas suggested.

"Fine, we'll check it out and hope it'll lead us to another Needle quickly," Kumatora said with a sigh.

" _I wonder how Flint is doing? Shouldn't we at least check on him, Lucas?"_ Boney asked.

"Oh… yeah… I still have to ask him if Claus came back home," Lucas said with a frown.

"We don't have time. If whoever sent this is in trouble then we have to leave immediately," Kumatora said.

"Y-yeah… you make a good point Kumatora," Lucas sighed. "Maybe next time."

"So how will we find whoever wrote this letter?" Duster asked.

"I think they're telling us to go down into the underground," Lucas said, pointing at a tombstone.

"What? You mean this thing?" Kumatora asked as she tapped the tombstone before it moved, revealing the ladder down there. "Oh… wow…"

"Yeah, Boney and I were pretty surprised the first time too." Lucas chuckled.

"I saw this when I was undercover," Duster said. "I wonder why whoever's in trouble went underground?"

"Or how they even knew about it. Are they with the Pigmasks?" Kumatora asked, getting suspicious.

"It doesn't matter if they are, they're still people and they need our help," Lucas said. "Come on!"

* * *

The group of four climbed down the ladder and looked around the tunnels for a bit before Boney began barking at a strange table-like object. _"Hey! Look at this! I've never seen or smelled anything like it before!"_

"Whoa… what is that?" Duster asked when they went to check out the object Boney was barking at.

"It… looks like some kind of… giant pale pink… table?" Kumatora wasn't sure what to make out of it.

Lucas walked closer to it and touched its smooth texture. "It wasn't here before, that's for sure… I wonder who left it here?"

Boney whined a bit as he pawed at another glass bottle with a paper inside. _"Someone also left a note here."_

Lucas picked it up and took the letter out of the bottle. "It says… 'ATTACKED. VERY BAD. COME TO THUNDER AREA. THANKS THANKS.' Um… and that's it," Lucas said.

"Uh… what, do they expect us to ride that thing?" Duster asked.

"And what thunder area are they talking about? The only place I know that utilizes lightning is the Thunder Tower I always see from Club Titiboo," Kumatora said.

"That must be it! Whoever sent this letter for help must be at Thunder Tower!" Lucas said with a smile.

"But it's far! How are we going to get there on foot? It could take us ages and by the time we get there we may already be too late," Duster said logically.

The table thing suddenly moved, catching their attention. "... Did… did that table just move?" Kumatora asked suspiciously.

"Uh… I think it did…" Lucas said nervously.

The table suddenly turned to them and moved closer, shocking the four. "Wh-what the!? Is this a chimera!?" Kumatora hissed.

" _No wait!"_ Boney barked. _"It doesn't smell dangerous. I think it wants us to do something."_

"What would a table want us to do?" Lucas asked, feeling weary.

The table creature lowered itself down, as it wanting the group to get on its… back…? Boney crawled on top before wagging his tail. _"I think it wants us to get on."_

"Are you sure that's safe?" Duster asked when he saw Boney get on.

"Boney seems to think so," Lucas said nervously. "I guess we could get on… what's the harm? Maybe it could take us to where we need to go."

"Fine, but if it does something funny I'm burning it!" Kumatora hissed.

Lucas, Kumatora and Duster all climbed on the table creature thing, and as soon as they were on, it stood up and neighed like a horse before it took off into the tunnels, running with its… legs like hooves and moving almost as fast as a Pork Bean.

"Whoa!" Lucas yelped, bending down to his knees to keep from falling off the running horse table creature thing.

" _Wow! This thing can run!"_ Boney smiled as he sat down and enjoyed the breeze hitting against his furry face.

"I just hope it's taking us where we need to go!" Kumatora said as she and Duster bent down to keep from falling like Lucas.

"Well if this table thing has a mind of its own I'm sure it'll take us to whoever sent that letter!" Duster yelled over the winds.

The table creature ran across the highway, passing Pork Beans and Pigmasks that were in the area. They stared at the table as it ran with a bum-like man, a woman with pink hair, a child and a dog riding it.

"... That's it… no more drinks," A Pigmask said as he poured the beer out of his bottle to the ground.

The table creature ran towards a tall tower, to which Kumatora and Lucas could sense the strong lightning atmosphere. However, the table creature didn't go there, rather it ran past it and ran into a tunnel.

"Uh… we just past the thunder tower thing," Lucas said in confusion.

"Are _we_ supposed to stop this thing?" Kumatora frowned.

" _No wait, I think it's slowing down!"_ Boney barked.

The table creature did indeed slow down before it came to a stop, standing in front of some kind of construction site.

"Uh… looks like the road ends here," Duster said.

" _I think we're supposed to go ahead ourselves from here."_ The dog suggested.

"What would be at the end of the road?" Lucas wondered curiously.

"I guess there's only one way to find out. Come on, let's get this over with," Kumatora sighed tiredly as she jumped off of the table creature.

Duster, Lucas and Boney all jumped off of the table. The creature just stood there, as still as any table would be. Lucas couldn't help but wonder… _How does this thing even eat?_

"Come on Lucas, let's go!" Kumatora called to him as she, Boney and Duster were already ahead of him.

"O-oh uh… coming!" Lucas hurried after them.

The group of four were now walking through the tunnel road, where no Pork Beans or other vehicles could get through due to the unfinished road construction.

* * *

 _It felt like hours since we walked… but at least it was a straightforward path and not some maze underground like it was in the mole cricket's home. Kumatora doesn't seem nearly as agitated as she was when we were lost there. At least she could teleport if she needed to here. Still, I wonder where is this leading us to? Why is that road construction blocking vehicles from coming through here? And more importantly… goodness gracious ALIVE! How long do we have to walk before something happens!? … I've been hanging around Kumatora too long… Oh wait, there's something up ahead… uh… what is that?_

Lucas and the group stopped when they came across a strange… creature. It looked like a… head with stubby feet… a big nose with a pair of two whiskers, big eyebrows and a single strain of hair with a red bow on it. It was lying down and staring up.

"Uh… hello?" Lucas timidly spoke to it.

"Can this thing even talk?" Duster wondered.

The creature kept looking up, but it did indeed spoke, in a strange way. "WATCHING CEILING."

"Uh… okay… what are you?" Lucas asked.

"MR. SATURN. ALL ARE MR. SATURN. BOING," It said.

"... Wait… Mr. Saturn?" Kumatora suddenly spoke up. "I've heard about these guys from the Magypsies but I've never actually seen them!"

 _"So you know about these strange… Mr. Saturn creatures?"_ Boney asked.

"They're odd creatures but are said to be even more intelligent than even the most well renowned scientists in the world. If one of them is here then that must mean… we're near Saturn Valley!" Kumatora suddenly gave an eager smile. "I never thought I'd ever get to see it! Come on, let's go!"

Lucas had never seen Kumatora so excited like this before, she was already running ahead. "W-wait up, Kumatora!" Lucas called as he, Duster and Boney ran after her, exiting the tunnel.

Lucas didn't see Kumatora right outside the dark tunnel and ran into her, followed by Duster, who was crushing him because he was so much taller than he was, and then Boney bringing up the rear, causing Kumatora to fall flat on her face with the other three on top of her.

Lucas yelped when he saw he was on top of her, and tried to get off but Duster was on top of him and so was Boney. "Duster… Boney… get off…" Lucas wheezed.

Boney whined as he quickly jumped off of Duster. Duster gulped when he saw he was crushing Lucas and Kumatora underneath and quickly rolled off of them. Lucas panted before scrambling off of Kumatora, feeling nervous that she's going to be really angry.

The PSI girl lifted up her head and looked at them. "You guys are SO lucky I'm in a giddy mood right now. Look at where we are!"

The nervous three quickly looked around, not wanting to provoke the ill tempered Kumatora. The place looked small yet had a certain charm to it, it had a few odd looking houses, a few Pigmasks running around- Pigmasks!?

"It looks like a small village," Duster said. "Why are there Pigmasks here? Surely this isn't one of their bases… uh is it?"

"I doubt it." Kumatora said. "I've heard about this place but I didn't think it exists. This MUST be Saturn Valley! It fits the description from Ionia perfectly!"

 _"... Right… except I don't see any of those Mr. Saturn guys out here, just Pigmasks,"_ Boney grumbled.

"I know this _has_ to be Saturn Valley! That Mr. Saturn we saw in the tunnel proves it must be." Kumatora frowned as she tapped her foot. "These Pigsnots must've taken them hostage for their own selfish reason!"

"N-now Kumatora, we don't know that," Lucas spoke up nervously. "M-maybe they're just… uh… visiting. We really shouldn't cause anymore trouble than we should with them."

"Lucas, we're practically at _war_ with them after that last Needle pulling with their Commander fiasco!" Kumatora grumbled. "Man up a little!"

"It still would be troublesome we get too involved," Duster spoke up. "We better try to see what they're doing first while they don't know who we are."

"And how do you know they don't know who we are?" Kumatora asked. "I'm pretty sure our faces would be in their wanted posters by now."

"Then all the more reason not to let them know we're here," Duster said. "As a thief, it's always important to blend in the shadows and not be seen. We're going to have to do that here if we want to gain information without causing more trouble than it's worth."

"What? Are you saying we need to go on a STEALTH mission now?" Kumatora frowned, not liking that idea.

"Well it might be the best way to get information," Duster explained.

"We can try that," Lucas said. "I rather not have to fight them again… especially the Commander…"

"Please, just call him the Masked Man. We are NOT referring to him as a superior to us!" Kumatora hissed. "And fine, we'll do it the stealthy way. Any ideas for a disguise?"

"I still have the Pigmask uniform tucked away in my bag," Duster said. "I could put it on and pretend I captured you."

"Wouldn't they find it suspicious that one low ranking Pigmask could capture the ones who gave their army and even their big bad 'Commander' the boot?" Kumatora said with a frown.

"Maybe he could just pretend to capture one of us," Lucas suggested. "It'd be more believable than catching three of us."

"Good thinking Lucas," Duster smiled. "So who's going to be my partner in crime?"

Kumatora and Boney both looked at Lucas. The boy gulped and fidgeted nervously. It couldn't be Kumatora because her short temper might give them away too quickly if the Pigmasks get too harsh. It couldn't be Boney because he and Duster have trouble communicating with each other. So that just left the timid, tame boy Lucas to play prisoner.

* * *

The blond haired boy sighed as Duster put on the Pigmask suit. "Now Lucas, you're going to have to look ruffled and dirty like you were in a fight."

" _I can probably help with that,"_ Boney commented.

"Ugh… I hate getting dirty," Lucas groaned.

"Come on Lucas, mess up your hair, put dirt over your shirt, make it look like you were pummeled," Kumatora said, almost sounding like she was chuckling.

Boney looked like he was trying not to snicker- as much as a dog _could_ snicker. Lucas grumbled before he said, "Maybe I _should've_ kept that Commander's uniform when I still had it."

However, Lucas didn't have time to try and mess up his carefully combed hair because a Pigmask Captain was already approaching them, spotting the three.

"You!"

They all froze up in fear when the Pigmask Captain spotted them. Duster was already in his uniform disguise, but with Lucas, Kumatora and Boney all out in the open like this their plan just went down the drain.

"... Nice job on catching two outsiders. Maybe you should report this to Pork Trooper." The Pigmask Captain said, sounding impressed. "You don't have to of course, Commander, but he's been in a bad mood all day because the DCMC's been missing their bass player for a while. Oh and he also has the uniform you lost back at the highway."

Lucas, Boney, Kumatora and Duster all stared at the Pigmask Captain in disbelief… did he seriously think Lucas was their Commander? Lucas then wondered if this Pigmask Captain was the same one he met back at the Clayman Factory, he was the one who thought Lucas was the Commander there too.

"You better get it from him Commander. After all, remember what I said about wearing such clothes while on duty?" The Pigmask Captain said to Lucas, which just confirmed his suspicions.

"R-right… uh… thank you Pigmask for telling me," Lucas said timidly. "We will escort these two with the… rest of the prisoners before we report to Pork… Trooper and pick up my uniform."

" _You'd think these Pigmasks would be able to tell who their Commander is!"_ Boney barked in exasperation.

"Come on prisoners, let's go!" Duster demanded, trying to seem authentic. Kumatora huffed but didn't argue as she and Boney walked in between Duster and Lucas.

While they were walking, Lucas couldn't help but feel uneasy with the idea that the Masked Man would look like himself. After all it's the second time that Pigmask Captain mistook him for the Commander and it was starting to bother Lucas that he didn't know what he looked like under that helmet. Ever since he met the Masked Man, there was always something familiar about him.

Duster lead them into one of the houses, and was surprised to see more of those Mr. Saturn creatures there, and they were bunched together with a couple of Pigmask Majors and a tiny robot in front of them.

"What's going on here?" Kumatora whispered.

"Now tell us where the Needle is or we will keep using the robot to tell you more scary stories until you do!" A Pigmask Major demanded.

" _Scary stories…? Seriously? That's the best they can do to torture someone for information?"_ Boney rolled his eyes.

"Shouldn't we do something?" Lucas asked.

"Not unless you want to draw unwanted attention to us," Duster said. "It doesn't look like they're trying to hurt the Mr. Saturns, just trying to get them to tell them where the Needle is."

"Why would they care where the Needle is unless they want to pull it themselves?" Kumatora grumbled. "Bunch of hypocrites."

"Maybe so they can send their forces there to protect it?" Lucas spoke up. "They did seem pretty keen on making sure I didn't pull that Needle back at Snowcap Mountain."

"Yeah, because _you_ pulled it instead of their Commander," Kumatora said back.

"The Masked Man didn't seem like he wanted to pull it either." Lucas frowned.

" _Okay, can we please move on now? How are we going to find the Needle at this point?"_ Boney asked.

"Maybe we could try asking that one Mr. Saturn outside the village, he… she… it might know something," Duster suggested.

"Yeah, good idea." Lucas nodded.


	28. Chapter 28: Volcanic Ash

**DarkFoxKit: Hiiii readers! *Is doing something offscreen* Uh… kinda busy at the moment… here, go watch Fyre. *moves the camera at Fyre, who was singing in the showers***

 **Donfyre: … simple as can beee~! Give it some wooords, and- … Fooox? I feel strangely… violated. *pokes my head out from the curtains* O_O WAH! W-WHAT ARE YOU-!?**

 **DarkFoxKit: *Is holding the camera at Fyre* Say hi to the readers, Fyre~! Also… I got something for ya~**

 **Donfyre: YAAAAAH! *throws a bar of soap at the camera, knocking it into static. It flickered back on, showing Fox in front of the camera and Fyre behind her in a towel***

 **DarkFoxKit: I don't see why you're so embarrassed, Fyre. You're a Wooper, you're naked all the time.**

 **Donfyre: *hisses at her* O-oh, I don't think you'd be very happy if I pointed a camera broadcasted to the WORLD while you were in the showers!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Oh quit whining! Here, try this on. *puts on a necklace of some sort* You like?**

 **Donfyre: Um… I suppose? What is it supposed to…?**

 **DarkFoxKit: Oh it just looks nice on you, that's all. c: By the way, you can't take it off. Okay! Let's get to the reviews, shall we?**

 **Donfyre: W-wha… HEY! DX *rolls on the floor trying to get the necklace off***

 **DarkFoxKit: Hee, hee, hee~**

* * *

 **Shimo no ko: In a way, Lucas already figured it out, but he's kind of in denial. ^^' And yeah, the Pigmasks were always joked about being such incompetent soldiers.**

 **Donfyre: Everyone's really hyped to know when the big identity reveal will happen. XP**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: Um… you okay there? ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Heeeeey, did you fall asleep during the chapter? *opens a gate of fairies* Why don't you sleep with these very cute, and very not wild psychotic Fairy types? They'll be sure to be nice to sleep with~**

 **Donfyre: *sweatdrops* R-riiiight, welp… you have fun with Fox's killer fairies, Calm! And good luck, you're going to need it, considering your… unfortunate typing. ^^;**

 **Connor the speling pro: Yeah, we're not really focused on making these stories top-notch, professional works of art. They're just… fun things we write when we wanna. And, um, thanks for that. ^^; Fox's evil shenanigans aren't that bad… well, they are. XP**

 **DarkFoxKit: What's THAT supposed to meeeeeean!? *Is glaring at Fyre before giving a giddy smile* I'm going to have some fun tonight~**

 **Donfyre: *gulps* W-whoops...**

 **DarkFoxKit: Heh, while the story seems similar to Mother 3, just with more of a role reversal, not everything is going to be the same, but I do have a time and place planned out for the reveal already. Actually, to be fair, it's kinda the only thing that WOULD work for this kind of plot. If Claus's identity was revealed too soon, it would halt most of the plot and make it difficult to finish the rest of the arc. Sure there could be other ways of doing it, but I prefer it this way.**

 **I will take responsibility of writing Kumatora in the previous chapters starting from the Mole Cricket lair. Fyre was out on vacation when those chapters were written so I wrote those myself, with the exception of the scene between her and Boney arguing. By the time they made it to Saturn Valley, Fyre started doing Kumatora again. I have trouble writing hotheaded characters like her, I tend to go over the top. ^^' And I also have problems with being TOO descriptive even when they're not necessary. I blame my mother for that habit, she ALWAYS feels like she MUST explain everything to me even if it's obvious.**

 **Donfyre: H-heeey, it's not your fault for ALL of that. I should've pointed those things out more.**

 **DarkFoxKit: I'll admit that the Needle pulling thing really was the longest and tedious part of Mother 3. I do like that they gave you a goal for the game, similar to how Ninten had to gather the eight Melodies and Ness had to gather the eight songs from his Your Sanctuary locations, but there were a lot of travelling and not a lot going on after a while. You just get tired of fighting enemies in a dungeon or path. Still, I am trying my best to make them fun to read about at least, thinking as if it was an anime instead of a video game definitely helps. So I hope that we make the longest part of Mother 3 a joy to read. … Wow, I rambled again.**

 **Donfyre: *pats Fox with my tail* That's fine, seems like you had a lot on your chest. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: *gives Fyre a deadpanned look* You're not off the hook from that comment earlier. *Jumps and sits on Fyre's back* Oh, and there's something we should tell you, readers. We might decide to do the two weeks wait after all. It seems this story's not getting… as much attention as we had hoped, so we're going to slow down the updates for a bit.**

 **Donfyre: H-hey, I wasn't trying to get off the hook! DX … O-oh, right, that topic. Yeah, attention the story's been receiving has been really slow, so… we decided to have another two weeks wait. Besides, it'll at least give you guys a relaxing Christmas break. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: And not to mention with my computer currently out of commission, it's kind of hard to get in the updates. Hopefully I'll be able to get a new computer or at least a nice, usable one, so it'll be easier on me. We hope you guys understand, and please continue to support this story. As much as we like writing it, we also need motivation, and if people aren't really into the story, it kinda kills our motivation. ^^' But that's all we have to say on the matter. You have anything else you wanna add, Fyre?**

 **Donfyre: Hmm… not really. Have a happy holiday season everybody! Now, um… can I has some mercy, Fox? c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: Hmm… nope. *Smiles* Happy holidays people! *drags Fyre offscreen* We look forward to hearing from you!**

 **Donfyre: N-NOOOO! DX But it's the holidaaaaaays!**

* * *

 **Chapter 28: Volcanic Ash**

They walked out of the house while the Pigmasks were busy with the Mr. Saturns, but as soon as they did they walked right into a rather huge Pigmask, he was big enough to bodyslam them if he wanted to.

"W-whoa," Duster, Lucas, Kumatora and Boney froze upon seeing the big Pigmask.

"Commander sir? I heard from a Pigmask Captain that you were here." The big Pigmask said.

 _This must be the Pork Trooper._ Lucas thought to himself. "Y-yeah… I uh… came here after what happened on Snowcap Mountain."

"Then you better wear the proper uniform, sir. Don't want to set a bad example for the other Pigmasks." The Pork Trooper said, holding out the familiar black coat and pants that Lucas thought he'd never wear again.

"Uh… thank you Pork Trooper," Lucas said timidly as he took the black coat.

"Hmm… you seem… more timid this time, sir," The Pork Trooper said, getting a little suspicious. "And where's your helmet?"

"Uh… I… err…" Lucas gulped, not sure what to say.

"The Commander's having an off day," Duster quickly said. "Please don't push it."

"Sorry. We're also having an off day, after we received news that the Needle's been pulled on Snowcap Mountain a lot of us have been getting desperate… and these weird creatures aren't being very cooperative," The Pork Trooper grumbled as Lucas put the jacket over his shirt.

"Maybe you should try showing them some kindness instead of bullying them into telling you what you want?" Kumatora growled.

"Quiet prisoner!" Duster snapped to keep the act up.

"I'm quite impressed that you managed to capture two out of the four that managed to defeat the entire defense team on Snowcap Mountain," The Pork Trooper said, looking at the girl and the dog. "But then I shouldn't expect anything less from the Commander himself. Maybe you could get these things to talk."

"Uh…" Lucas wasn't sure if he could even do that. "I could try. It is important that we find the Needle as soon as possible. But… first let me make sure these prisoners don't try to escape."

"Alright Commander," The Pork Trooper said as Lucas lead Duster, Kumatora and Boney away a bit from him, but not far enough that they were out of sight.

"What should we do now? I don't think he'll let us go so easily," Lucas whispered to them.

"You're the 'Commander' here, you 'outrank' them all so maybe you should try telling him you'd want to interrogate Mr. Saturn yourself?" Kumatora whispered back.

"Wouldn't they still find it suspicious? Especially if they overhear us telling Mr. Saturn that we're not really on their side," Duster whispered back.

" _Maybe you could tell them that the 'enemy' somewhere outside the village and closing in? That should get them running,"_ Boney suggested.

"Hey… that's not a bad idea, dog," Kumatora said.

"What'd he say?" Duster asked.

"Boney suggested that we tell them the 'enemy'... which is us I guess, is closing in on the village and I should send them out to 'defend' this place from them… us…" Lucas said, sounding a little confused on what he just said.

"That might work," Duster said. "But we better get the information quickly, it may not be long before they find out that the 'enemy' isn't coming."

" _If these Mr. Saturn are as intelligent as pink hair girl here said, then it shouldn't take too long to get information from them,"_ Boney said, despite Duster not being able to understand him.

"Look, whatever we're going to do we better do it soon," Kumatora hissed. "Or big Pork Guy over there is going to get suspicious!"

"A-a-alright… uh… I guess we can try Boney's idea out and hope it succeeds," Lucas said with a nod of his head.

"Then let's do this. You better look worried, Lucas, so it'll be more believable. And speak up in a commanding tone or nobody's going to hear you," Duster said to the timid boy.

"I have to WHAT?" Lucas shivered, not liking that idea.

"Come on Lucas, if you don't do it then everyone will get suspicious of you," Duster whispered.

"I-I get kinda… stage fright," Lucas gulped, not liking that he would have to raise his voice loudly and get the soldiers to listen.

" _Oh boy, this is going to be a long day,"_ Boney groaned.

"Look, Lucas, we'll never get to the Needle if you don't try. Come on, right now you're not Lucas, you're the Commander. So you can't be afraid to act like one, don't be afraid to raise your voice when you need to," Kumatora said. "Or else nobody's going to take you seriously."

"I-I don't know if I can… I mean… my voice had always been pretty soft…" Lucas gulped.

"Hey, I'll be here to help coach you if you need it. Come on, we better do this," Kumatora coaxed as she pointed at the Pork Trooper, who was eagerly waiting.

"A-alright… I-I'll try," Lucas said nervously.

They approached the Pork Trooper before Duster said, "The Commander has an important announcement to make."

"..." Lucas only gave a nervous look.

"Well…? Tell him Commander!" Duster elbowed the nervous boy.

"U-uh… it uh… involved the entire army," Lucas said, but his voice was still pretty low.

"Oh? Well if that's it then we better call out for their attention. Is it an emergency?" The Pork Trooper asked in concern.

"Y-yeah… b-but… u-uh…" Lucas really didn't want to do this.

"T-The Commander's voice is a bit low today, he suffered some congestion while on Snowcap Mountain so you'll have to speak up for him," Duster said after getting an idea to make it easier for themselves and Lucas.

"Oh, that won't be any trouble at all. So what's the message you want me to rely to the troops, sir?" The Pork Trooper asked.

"The enemy… the other two have been spotted coming this way to rescue… th-their comrades and… we fear they're closing in. S-so everyone needs to go out and protect this village… in case the Needle is nearby," Lucas said nervously.

"... You seem… awfully nervous, Commander," The Pork Trooper said, making Lucas even _more_ nervous. "... But I guess that's to be expected since one of them is particularly dangerous."

The boy almost wanted to sigh in relief from that, but held himself back. The Pork Trooper turned and shouted in a loud and demanding voice. "LISTEN UP!"

The soldiers in the area all stopped. Pork Trooper opened the door to the houses and said, "You too, all of you! The Commander has an important announcement to make!"

The Pigmasks all squealed as they hurried into a single file formation, all standing attention to Lucas. The boy himself felt like a deer caught in headlights, he was completely terrified at the sudden attention and he began to pale and sweat a bit.

"The Commander said the enemy is nearby and we better get our defenses ready! We can't let them enter the village if the Needle is hidden here!" The Pork Trooper spoke for the sweating boy.

"Y-yeah," Was all Lucas said, which should've been suspicious hadn't the Pigmasks been more preoccupied with the fact that the enemies that took down the entire defense team on Snowcap Mountain were coming _here_!

"Then we'll hurry and set up a defense right away!" The Pigmasks squealed before scrambling.

Lucas sighed in relief, but before he could turn to Duster, Kumatora and Boney, Pork Trooper said, "Commander, we should get ready to defend this place."

"O-oh… that's… uh… a good idea, Pork Trooper. But… I still have to get information out of these creatures where the Needle is," Lucas said, gulping a bit.

"Alright, you do that while the defense team makes sure the enemy doesn't get past them," Pork Trooper said. "But maybe I should stick around and make sure these two…" he looked at Kumatora and Boney. "Don't try anything funny while we interrogate those creatures."

Lucas bit his lip as he looked back at Duster, trying to ask him for his help without verbally saying anything. Duster wasn't sure what to do either without seeming suspicious, but he still tried. "U-uh… Pork Trooper sir, I think the Commander can handle this on his own."

"Then why don't _you_ go and help the defenses? I'm staying right here," The Pork Trooper said firmly.

Lucas knew he better speak up if he wanted to get this guy out of here. "Um… Pork Trooper, maybe you can watch these two… _prisoners_ …" he cringed a bit as he gestured to Kumatora and Boney, "outside while we interrogate? I mean they might talk if there were less of us."

The Pork Trooper hesitated, but nodded, "Very well, you are the Commander." He then grabbed Kumatora's arms, to which she almost punched, and Boney's collar before dragging them outside. "Come on! Move it!"

Lucas mouthed a silent apology to them as the Pork Trooper forced them outside. With just him and Duster, Lucas sighed in relief. "I thought he'd catch us for sure."

"Well we better make this fast before one of them decides to bite the Pork Trooper right back- I'm talking about Kumatora, not Boney," Duster said nervously.

Lucas sighed before turning to the Mr. Saturns that were watching them from the back of the house. They didn't really look scared, but then it was kind of hard to tell what they're thinking.

"Um… excuse us…? We're not with them, these are just disguises," Lucas spoke up timidly, hoping they would understand. "We just want to know where the Needle is. As soon as we do, we can get these guys to leave you alone. I promise, we're doing it for a good cause."

The Mr. Saturns looked at each other, Lucas and Duster weren't sure if they were discussing things among themselves or not, but they seem to be considering Lucas's words, which was a good sign.

One of the Mr. Saturns spoke up, "YOU NOT WITH SCARY STORY GROUP? YOU KAY-O?"

"Uh…" Duster and Lucas blinked before Lucas nodded.

"Y-yeah, we're 'kay-o'," Lucas said.

"BOING! WE BELIEVE YOU. YOU TOO NICE, TOO NICE TO BE SCARY STORY TELLER. ZOOM! ZOOM!" The Mr. Saturn said.

Lucas sighed in relief. He was glad these Mr. Saturn were willing to compromise and they didn't have to waste the entire time persuading them that they weren't Pigmasks. "Great, so you'll tell us where the Needle is?"

"NOT KNOW ABOUT NEEDLE OBJECT, BOING."

"What? But isn't there supposed to be one near this village?" Duster asked, not liking that this all might be a wild goose chase.

"ONLY VOLCANO NEAR VILLAGE. SHINY THING OVER VOLCANO WALL, DING."

"A volcano?" Lucas looked at Duster. "That might be where the Needle is. I mean it _is_ shiny."

"If you say so. Maybe Kumatora might know if we told her," Duster said. "But how will we get there?"

"NEED MR. SATURN HELP." Mr. Saturn suddenly said. "LADDER NEED TO REACH VOLCANO. ZOOM! ZOOM!"

"Oh… well then will you help us?" Lucas asked.

"WE HELP IF FRIENDS HELP US, BOING," Mr. Saturn said.

"I think they want us to get rid of the Pigmasks causing trouble for them," Duster said to Lucas.

"Ah… maybe we can convince them the Needle isn't here after all and they'll go away," Lucas suggested.

"We can try, but I doubt it would be that easy. They must've came here knowing it would be close by," Duster said.

Lucas took a deep breath before nodding, he walked out of the door and was face-to-face with Pork Trooper. "H-hey, the Needle isn't here. It's somewhere else."

"Oh please, they'll lie if they have to, to get us to leave, Commander," The Pork Trooper said as if he's heard that excuse before.

"Um… well…" Lucas was trying to think of another excuse.

"You know Commander… the more I think about it… the more I'm starting to wonder about you," Pork Trooper said, looking directly at Lucas. "I remember you having that red eye. It truly intimidated me… and yet when I look at you now… I don't see the red eye."

 _Red eye? … The Commander has a red eye?_ Lucas thought in shock. He had fought with the Masked Man back at Snowcap Mountain, but he hadn't really been paying attention to his eye.

"Uh… he took out the red contact lens!"" Duster quickly provided..

"Or… you're not the Commander after all," Pork Trooper growled. "How DARE you try to pull a fast one on me! Everyone knows the Commander's left eye was replaced with a mechanical one!"

 _It's mechanical!? It's just like-!_ Lucas thought in shock, however he didn't have time to ponder this because the Pork Trooper was mad.

"Duck!" Kumatora suddenly shouted. "PK Thunder Beta!" She let loose two powerful bolts of lightning.

Lucas and Duster quickly got down to the ground while the lightning strike Pork Trooper, who squealed in pain but stood strong. "How DARE you!? This is personal now!"

Pork Trooper ran at them and hit Lucas, Duster, Kumatora and Boney with a wild tackle. The group all groan in pain but were far from out.

Boney ran at the Pork Trooper and and his arm, but it was all muscle and hard to break the skin. "Get off me ya mutt!"

Duster ran at the struggling Pork Trooper before he began tickling under his arm with a feather. "WAHAHAHA! STOP THAT!" He swung his arm at Duster, flinging him back along with Boney.

"PK Fire Gamma!" Kumatora shot out a powerful fire blast at the Pork Trooper. His armor was set ablaze and he screamed out in pain. "Seems he can't take the heat."

Pork Trooper growled before running at Lucas, the boy yelped at the sudden charged and grabbed him by the coat. " _You_ must be the one pulling the Needles!"

Lucas slip out of the jacket and kicked the soldier's knee. Normally this would've just hurt his leg since the knee was covered in armor, however he had used some of his PK Love into the kick and managed to crack the armor as well as causing Pork Trooper to fall out of balance.

Pork Trooper then laughed before he said, "Go ahead and keep fighting me. The rest of the Pigmasks know when PSI is being used thanks to technology, so we know when the enemy comes. You'll be surrounded soon, and this time we're ready for you."

"We can take on your army, we've done it before and we can do it again!" Kumatora hissed.

"Yes, with your PSI," Pork Trooper said. "However… the soldiers of the Major rank and above are now equipped with something that can counter it." He charged at Kumatora and sprayed some white gas in her face before anyone could react.

Kumatora coughed as she inhaled the gas. "What in the-!?" She felt like a part of her mind shut down. "Why you… PK Fire Gamma!" She pointed at him… but nothing happened, not even a spark of fire came out of her fingers. "W-what?"

"Forgetful Gas. This will shut down the part of your brain that draws out PSI. It's temporary but effective," Pork Trooper said with a cocky tone before turning his attention to Lucas. "And now for the one pulling the Needles himself."

" _Oh no you don't!"_ Boney tackled the Pork Trooper from behind with a CLANG due to the armor, but his force was enough to knock the soldier off balance a bit.

"Lucas, we better get out of here. If he shuts your PSI down and we get surrounded we're in big trouble," Duster said seriously to the boy before taking the mask off.

"L-Lucky?" Pork Trooper suddenly said in shock.

Duster looked at Pork Trooper before realizing something. _How could I have forgotten that he's a big fan of the DCMC? Of_ course _he'd recognize me._

"Yes, I'm Lucky," Duster said with a knowing smile.

"What? No fair! You got LUCKY to come with you?" Pork Trooper said in jealousy.

"Uh… aren't we in the middle of something?" Lucas sweatdropped.

Boney ran up to the boy and began pulling his shirt with his teeth. _"Who cares? Just move!"_

"And where are we going, Boney? We can't get to the Needle without Mr. Saturn's help! We need their ladder!" Lucas said with a frown.

"I am going to POUND you for this!" Kumatora screeched as she punched the Pork Trooper with her fists, despite her hands hitting the armor it still managed to hurt him.

* * *

Before the group had time to make their escape, Pork Tanks were already arriving on the scene as well as thousands of Pigmasks of different ranks. "HALT!" They all had their weapons ready.

Lucas gulped when he saw they were surrounded as he clenched his fists, they began to spark a dangerous light. "It's now or never. PK Love Gamma!"

Without warning a bright blue energy shot out of the boy's chest and flew up into the sky. It then exploded before falling down onto the Pork Tanks and Pigmasks like hexagonal meteors.

"Whoa, that's almost like the legendary PK Starstorm but to a lesser extent," Kumatora said in awe as she watched the PK Love Gamma destroy the tanks like they were wet paper.

" _And I thought the Beta version was powerful,"_ Boney gulped.

Pork Trooper wasn't spared from it either, in his distraction for 'Lucky' he had failed to disable Lucas's PSI and the PK Love Gamma came crashing down on him and knocked him out almost instantly.

Lucas was panting, that PK Love Gamma was very powerful but also very mentally costly. He fell to his hands and knees, completely wiped out.

"Lucas! Are you okay?" Duster asked the boy in concern.

"I'll… I'll… be fine…" Lucas panted.

"I'm not surprised that wiped you out. PK Love in the Gamma level is very costly." Kumatora said.

 _"Thanks for the news flash, Captain Obvious_. _But wow, you took out the entire army, tanks and all with that!"_ Boney barked.

"FRIENDS VERY STRONG." They turned to see the Mr. Saturn left their house. "WE HELP FRIENDS GET NEEDLE SHINY. BOING! FOLLOW KAY-O?"

"I think they want us to follow them," Duster said.

"Really? I couldn't figure that out when it said to 'follow'," Kumatora said sarcastically.

"HOT SPRING GOOD FOR TIRED. ZOOM!" Mr. Saturn said as five more followed it.

" _Did they say there's a hot spring? Sweet! Lucas can recover all that lost energy!"_ Boney wagged his tail.

Lucas tried to get up, but his legs wobbled a bit as he groaned. Kumatora and Duster held up his arms to try and help keep him stable. Lucas's face heated up as he felt embarrassed he had to rely on them again just to get around, but he didn't complain.

They followed the six Mr. Saturn into a cave that lead them outside on a higher cliff from the village. There they saw a mountain wall and a pink yet still soothing looking hot spring.

"Come on, let's get Lucas into the hot springs before we go anywhere," Kumatora said. "And hopefully it'll help me remember how to use my PSI."

* * *

Lucas was just glad that they didn't have to go far for the hot springs before they lay in the hot water. It was very soothing and he could already feel his mental energy replenishing itself. The others got in with him, all relaxing after a long day of Needle searching.

"Well, we should be good now," Kumatora said. "I just hope the Needle isn't going to be a big pain to get to."

"I hope the Pigmasks don't regain consciousness too soon. It'd be troublesome if they chase after us while we're trying to get to the Needle," Duster said.

"In that case we better hurry up. Is everyone good to go?" Kumatora asked.

" _We never get to relax for very long,"_ Boney whined.

"I'm feeling much better," Lucas said with a smile.

"Then let's get going," Kumatora said.

The four came out of the hot springs, feeling refreshed and ready to go. They saw the group of six Mr. Saturn waiting for them near the cliff wall.

"MR. SATURN LADDER," Mr. Saturn said as the other five began stacking on each other.

"LADDER CAN HOLD NO MORE," Mr. Saturn said.

Duster looked up before he said, "That's okay. I think the wall's a little weaker up there. It should be enough to pin my wall staples on there we can use to climb all the way up."

"Then you get up there and make the staple ladder. The rest of us will join you when you get up there," Kumatora said.

"You don't think the Masked Man will be waiting up there, do you?" Lucas asked nervously, he felt nausea at the thought that he may have to fight him again.

"Why Lucas? It's not like he put up much of a fight before," Kumatora asked.

"Because… I just… don't really want to fight him." The boy frowned.

" _He seemed like a nice boy,"_ Boney said with a small whimper.

"Look, he's the enemy and you have to remember that Lucas. The Pigsnots are using him to pull the Needles for their own selfish desire and we can't let them do that." Kumatora said.

"Hey! Are any of you coming up here or what?" Duster called from the top of the cliff. He had already made his wall staple ladder.

"Guess we better start climbing." Lucas said.

Lucas looked at the Mr. Saturn ladder… he wasn't sure how to climb on them exactly, but he grabbed their noses. They didn't seem to react, so he put his foot on it and began climbing. He reached the wall staples and climbed those easier since they didn't move around. Once Lucas made it to the top, he turned to see Kumatora and Boney had followed him and they too made it to the top.

As soon as the group all made it to the top the Mr. Saturn ladder fell down, though it was hard to tell if they were hurt.

"Are you guys okay?" Lucas called out in concern.

"WE ARE KAY-O. FRIENDS GO AHEAD, ZOOM," Mr. Saturn spoke up to them.

Lucas gave a sigh of relief before he turned to his friends, they all gave a nod to each other. It was time to get to the next Needle.

* * *

They head into the cave and it got really hot. Looking ahead, they could see there was lava around the cavern.

"Is this a volcano?" Duster frowned.

"Oh, this must be Phrygia's place. She really likes hot places," Kumatora said as they spotted a familiar pink shell house that was literally over lava.

" _Whoa, this is vastly different from when we were on the snowy mountain. Unlike you humans I can't sweat! This is gonna be torture!"_ Boney whimpered as he began panting to cool himself off.

Lucas looked at Boney in concern before he said, "Maybe we should talk to Phrygia and ask what's the fastest way to get to the Needle." He began petting Boney. "We'll get out of here as soon as we can, okay?"

" _That's not soon enough,"_ Boney whined.

"Oh suck it up. I can just use PK Freeze to cool you off if it gets that bad," Kumatora grumbled.

" _You have no soul,"_ Boney growled.

"Guys, please don't fight," Lucas quickly said. "Let's just hurry and find that Needle."

Duster opened the door and spotted the Magypsy sleeping in 'her' bed with a letter beside 'her'. "I think Phrygia's taking a nap."

"We can see that, Duster. Phrygia likes to sleep a lot." Kumatora said with a sigh. "It's hard to wake 'her' up when 'she' sleeps."

Lucas picked up the letter and said, "But it looks like 'she' left us a letter."

"What does it say?" Duster asked.

"It says… 'I am Phrygia, the Magypsy of sleep~ I'll most likely be asleep by the time you find me so I'll leave this letter to you. You will need to use some encouraging words on a boulder that is blocking the path. The path will lead you to my Needle, be sure to pull it~ I won't mind if I disappear in my sleep, in fact it's a lovely thought.' … Uh… wait… we have to say some words to a boulder?" Lucas blinked at that.

" _What good are words going to do for a ROCK? That makes no sense!"_ Boney barked.

"It's not that unbelievable, maybe it's a chimera," Duster suggested.

The group of four head out of the Magypsies house and came across a large boulder blocking their way. They stared at it for a few seconds before Kumatora said, "It looks like any other rock."

Lucas scratched his head, not sure what to do. "W-well… let's just say some encouraging words to it and see what happens."

" _Yeah, maybe Phrygia put some magic spell over it or something,"_ Boney suggested.

"I suppose. The Magypsy's always done weird things," Kumatora said.

"What do we even say to it?" Duster asked.

"Well… when I'm feeling down I always feel better whenever Mom or Claus cheers me up," Lucas said as he gave a small sad smile at the memory. "And they usually encourage me. So maybe we should do the same with this boulder here."

"Then you give it a shot, Lucas," Kumatora said. "I'm not really good at stuff like that."

"O-okay, I'll try."

Lucas turned to the rock. He couldn't help but feel embarrassed about this, he'll literally be talking to a rock and if nothing happens he'll feel like a fool. "Um… Mr. Boulder, don't let the fact that you're a rock get you down. There are always rocks out there in the world, but they're a part of this world and each one is special and unique. Like even the common coal can have a diamond in them, so even though you have a rough exterior on the outside you may have a very beautiful jewel lying deep inside."

At first nothing seemed to happen. Lucas began blushing as he felt like an idiot for trying to encourage a big rock, but then it suddenly trembled a bit before it moved and rolled out of their way.

" _What the!? H-how!? … Well now I've seen everything,"_ Boney said, staring at the boulder.

Duster was staring at the boulder too and Kumatora had her mouth hanging open. Lucas was looking at them before putting a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing at their shocked expressions. "Erm… hey guys… are we going to gawk all day or get to the Needle?"

This got them to snap out of it as they shook their heads. Kumatora blinked before she said, "Huh? O-oh right, the Needle. Let's proceed. But if rocks are really alive… I owe a few of them an apology for using them as target practice…"

" _And so do I… for using them as my bathroom…"_ Boney whimpered.

"Let's just go," Duster groaned, rubbing the temples of his head.

Lucas chuckled as they walked ahead. The deeper they went into the cavern, the hotter it got. Lava was everywhere, some even came to life that resembled a stereotypical fat lady. Literal fireflies, dragon-like flies and mini volcanoes were moving around and watching them pass by.

They appeared to be chimeras, but were watching the group passing by rather than actively attacking them. A firefly did come close and spout fire at them, but Kumatora was quick to douse it with her PK Freeze and chased the firefly away. She smiled as she said, "I think my PK Freeze got stronger after using it so much in here."

" _It certainly feels nice when you use it in this boiling hot volcano,"_ The dog barked in relief.

"You've gotta teach me PK Freeze one of these days," Lucas said, he too felt a lot better whenever she used it.

Like Boney, Lucas preferred the cold over the hot. Of course Snowcap Mountain was _too_ cold and he wasn't dressed properly for it, but he preferred that over melting in a lava filled place.

"Maybe I can," Kumatora chuckled. "But only after we finish pulling all the Needles."

"Hey, I see something glowing up ahead," Duster pointed out.

Lucas could see that the Needle was there, just waiting for them. "Good, I'm glad we didn't have to go far in this volcano to get to it."

"Yeah, and the chimeras around here aren't too hostile," Duster said. "Another bonus."

"I don't know. I can't help but feel like they were more weary than not hostile, as if they were too scared to really attack us," Kumatora said.

" _Yeah, I smelled fear in them,"_ Boney noted. _"I wonder if someone else came in here before we did and scared them?"_

"It doesn't matter right now. The Needle's right there, so Lucas, go pull it before one of those Pigsnots decides to come in and stop us at the last second," Kumatora said to the youngest of their group.

"Alright."

Lucas began walking up to the Needle, but then suddenly something or someone came flying in out of nowhere.

"STOOOOOP!" Lucas yelped when he was suddenly tackled to the ground.

" _You_!?" Kumatora hissed.

Lucas looked up to see what hit him and his eyes widen when he saw it was the Masked Man, who had his jetwings out and appeared to be flying.

"Don't pull that Needle." The Masked Man said urgently.

"You're not going to stop us!" Kumatora snapped.

"She's right, and I'll make sure you won't." An unknown voice suddenly said from behind them.

"What the? Who the heck are you?" Kumatora demanded.

Lucas blinked as he turned around, seeing a black Pigmask. _What the…? I've never seen a_ black _Pigmask before._

"I'm just someone who's on the same side as you. I'm going to make sure Lucas pulls this Needle and that this pig head of a commander don't interfere," The black Pigmask said as he held out a gun at the Masked Man.

The Masked Man himself didn't seem to retaliate with his arm cannon or that thunder sword he uses, instead he was glaring defiantly. "I don't care that you disabled my PSI, I'll make sure you don't succeed," The Masked Man growled.

 _The Masked Man's PSI was disabled?_ Lucas thought in shock as he saw the two go at it. The Masked Man used his wings to fly around to avoid the laser gun from the black Pigmask though he was flying a weird and crazy pattern, like he doesn't have a lot of control.

"Lucas! Please don't pull the Needle! We can't afford to have that Dragon wake up!" The Masked Man begged Lucas as he landed in front of him.

Lucas looked at his visible eye, it was indeed red. He remembered it used to be green. "But… I have to…"

"Don't try to talk him out of it Commander," The black Pigmask said before he hit the Masked Man with a large piece of wood away from Lucas. "Because it must be done no matter what."

The Masked Man gritted his teeth and said, "Then I'll stop you no matter what." His hand began to spark suddenly.

"No! The Forgetful Gas shouldn't have worn off that quickly!" The black Pigmask yelled in alarm.

Lucas's eyes widened as he recognize that PSI, and he quickly turned to Duster, Kumatora and Boney. "Everyone get down!"

"PK Love Beta!" The Masked Man shouted.


	29. Chapter 29: The Fourth Needle of Ruins

**DarkFoxKit: *slowly lifts up her head to the camera* … Hello…? … Hi! This is DarkFoxKit, and I'm here to tell you today that my hard working co-writer is resting. Shhh, we shouldn't make too many noise. *turns the camera to Fyre resting on the couch* He's pretty tired, but can't say I blame him. He's a fun co-worker to pl- write with.**

 **Donfyre: *is mumbling to himself while resting on the couch, not noticing that Fox had the camera pointed to him***

 **DarkFoxKit: Yeah, not only is he adorable, but he works hard to make this story the best it can be. We're both still learning to improve of course, but we like to think this story is good and fun to read. I guess it has been discouraging to not have a lot of reviews lately, but he's still trying hard to help me with this story. And for that, I really appreciate it. There's not many co-writers willing to work so hard for a story that's not their's to begin with, but now it's become both of our pride and joy. c:**

 **Donfyre: *slowly opens my eyes, blinking at the camera* F-Fox? What are you doing…? How long was I resting…?**

 **DarkFoxKit: That's not important right now… but I was recording you while you're sleeping. :3**

 **Donfyre: … WHAT!? Whyyyy? *jumps off of the couch, shaking off the sleepiness* What were you even doing while recording me? Saying how cute I looked while I slept or something?**

 **DarkFoxKit: *nuzzles* Something like that. Mostly just telling the folks how much of a hard worker you are.**

 **Donfyre: … O-oh, really? ^^; Well, um… t-thanks. I still don't think I really deserve it… Anyways, what are we doing now? AN time?**

 **DarkFoxKit: I think you mean review answering time. And yes, let's do this! Oh and I will need to say that we will not be updating next week. I'll be out of town and won't be able to upload a new chapter.**

* * *

 **Shimo no ko: Yes, yes he is. :P And you're right about the next chapter showing what Claus is up to. This story IS about both of the brothers after all, though Claus is more of the primary main character here. ^^' I luv mai cliffhangers. XP The black Pigmask will be an interesting character to deal with, I'll tell you that much. And since Christmas is over, happy early new year!**

 **Bloxxystudios: Donfyre: HIYA BLOXXY! :D Erm, a-anyways, thanks for tuning in again to the story! Nice to know you think we're still doing good.**

 **FanofFiction123: DarkFoxKit: Yes, yes he is… maybe. XP I'm glad you're fangirling a lot. X3 Well at least you managed to review this one. :D**

 **Guest #1: Of course they are going to fight, it's a big part of the story after all. But I luv mai cliffhangers! XP Also, was that supposed to be a joke? Cause it's kind of offensive. People, pull your heads out of the gutter when reviewing this please.**

 **Donfyre: …. *is staring at the last part of the review* … I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean, but I can only assume the worst… And if it IS what I'm thinking of, well… sorry I come off that way, I guess.**

 **Guest #2: DarkFoxKit: I'm not sure if you were disappointed in this chapter by it being action packed.**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: … Riiiiiiight.**

 **Donfyre: … What kind of Dark/Dragon type are you? ^^;**

 **Connor the speling pro: Eh heh… I'll try to keep that in mind if it happens again in future chapters. And I personally try to make her more docile, but it IS fun to go over the top with Kumatora sometimes, so I don't blame Foxy here.**

 **Yeah, it is a little weird that the Pigmasks can't tell the difference between blonde and orange hair. Or maybe they think Claus got a hairdo or something. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Pork Trooper's been able to see through Lucas's disguise, albeit it did take him a while to. ^^' Yup, Claus will be there to try and stop his brother. And no, the Renegade Pigmasks's motives aren't revealed yet and it's unclear why they're helping Lucas when they caused so much trouble for him in the past. And oh boy… let's just say it's really fun seeing what lengths Claus would go through. Happy new year!**

 **Unimportant: I'm not sure what you mean by training, but if you mean how to make a story then yes, yes I do. **

**Donfyre: H-hey, I'd say you're still a pretty good and passionate story writer, Fox. You just need co-authors to help ya now and then is all. ^^**

 **DarkFoxKit: Thanks. *huggles Fyre* And you're so supportive too. Now then we have two last minute reviewers. We really shouldn't be doing this now, but we hadn't uploaded yet so why not?**

 **Donfyre: You guys are lucky we do this sometimes! ^^;**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan: DarkFoxKit: You forgooooot? That would explain the late review. ^^' And well I can't update it next week due to being out of town so this is just going to be one long chapter. And slow review days can get pretty discouraging, but we'll try to keep that in mind. And it's good to know you still enjoy the story. Pigmasks mistaking Lucas as their commander just really works sometimes, but it doesn't look like they'll be doing that anymore. XP Yay, the Tazmily Squad! :D**

 **Donfyre: I really like that name, "Tazmily Squad." :P Anyways, you're wondering about this black Pigmask, huh? Good, keep an air of mystery around him. XP So we've been dragging on Claus's identity quite a bit, but it's gonna get there! And it's alright that you posted a short review. In fact, it's kind of a sigh of relief for me at least… ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: And me since it's been a busy day. Gotta start packing soon. And Fyre, you wanna just go ahead and answer the last, short review?**

 **Donfyre: Aaalrighty! XP**

 **Guest #3: Er… I-I'll try to keep that in mind, thanks. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Anyways, looks like we're done with reviews for this chapter. We hope you guys have a nice day and a happy new year! Make way for 2016!**

 **Donfyre: We'll see yas next year, readers! c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: *wraps Fyre up in a nice, soft blanket* Now you rest, my hard working co-writer. :3**

 **Donfyre: O-oh, um… thanks, Fox? ^^; It is pretty cozy in here…**

 **DarkFoxKit: I am DarkFoxKit, this is Donfyre, and we both look forward to hearing from you!**

* * *

 **Chapter 29: The Fourth Needle of Ruins**

Claus and the other Pork Ships have landed. They used an elevator to get back into the underground base. Claus watched as the Pigmasks rushed the injured to the doctors while he sighs, the mission was a failure, a lot of his soldiers got hurt, he has to deal with his brother and his own pet being his enemy and now he has to deal with Fassad since he did technically kind of sneak out without his permission.

 _It looks like it'll be another sleepless night for me._ Claus sighed as he walked into his room, finding Dr. Andonuts and Fassad there- much to his surprise. "Hmm?"

"Commander sir! You had us worried!" Dr. Andonuts said with a frown. "In fact Fassad called me in here to make a tracking device for you."

"O-oh, n-no that won't be necessary! I only left because it was an emergency! I saw my brother being buried in an avalanche at Snowcap Mountain!" Claus quickly said in his defense.

"Are you sure? But I insist Commander! Especially Fassad too, he seemed really supportive of going through with the idea… I can wait in my office where I usually am, and you can come down when you're ready!" Dr. Andonuts quickly said as he picked up the microchip. "All I have to do is install it into you."

"Just leave. I have a lot to discuss with Fassad," Claus said to the professor, not in a good mood right now.

"Y-yes sir." Dr. Andonuts hurried out the door, leaving the two Commanders alone.

"Fassad, I know you used Hypnosis to put me to sleep," Claus said to the Magypsy.

"You gave me no choice, Claus," Fassad said with a frown. "You were being stubborn and you needed sleep."

"This isn't the time to be sleeping," Claus said. "Three of the seven Needles have been pulled and Lucas is on his way to the fourth no doubt."

"Listen, Claus, you may be a commander but you're also only human, a _child_ no less. You can only push yourself to do so much before you collapse," Fassad told him. "Why did you run off when you woke up anyways? I would've thought you'd come to me about this the moment you woke up."

"... It's… it's because… like I told Dr. Andonuts… I heard my brother crying for help and I hurried to Snowcap Mountain," Claus answered.

"... How did you hear him? We're nowhere near Snowcap Mountain," Fassad said with a look of confusion.

"I don't know, okay? I just assumed maybe our PSI had something to do with it because we're twins. All I know was that Lucas was in trouble and he needed me. Remember Fassad; Lucas is my brother first and my enemy second," Claus told him.

Fassad gave a sigh before he said, "Which is why I didn't assign you to protect the Needle in Snowcap Mountain. You wouldn't be able to face your brother. You could put up protection around the Needle, like you were supposed to do with Doria's, but actually fighting Lucas is out of the question for you."

"I can fight him! I just… have to mentally prepare myself," Claus argued. "Please, just give me another chance. I'll be sure to protect the fourth Needle this time!"

"I don't know Claus." Fassad frowned.

The ginger haired boy sighed before he said, "I'm the only one who can counter Lucas's ability. He gained two deadly PSI during the battle on Snowcap Mountain."

"And what were those?"

"One was Counter; he's able to make a golden shield that bounced all our weapons back at us," Claus answered.

Fassad looked grim. "Counter… perhaps one of the most deadliest of assist PSI. I had hoped Lucas wouldn't have learned that already. And the other PSI?"

"It was a stronger version of PK Love, apparently in the Beta version. It wiped out half of our army," Claus reported.

"Oh… of course. How could I have forgotten something so important?" Fassad grumbled to himself. "Claus, once the person with PK Love pulls a Needle, it makes their PK Love even stronger. Since Lucas pulled two Needles, he can now use it in the Gamma level."

Claus paled at this as his head began pounding from the PSI fever and now from the horror that his brother can now use PK Love at such a high level, it really scared him. "There's no way we can fight him off if he uses PK Love Gamma on us! He'd wipe us out in a second! Not to mention Kumatora can burn everyone with her fire or lightning!"

"Which is why we're going to need to tell Dr. Andonuts to come up with a weapon that'll temporarily disable their use of PSI. They're too dangerous to deal with if they keep their PSI," Fassad quickly said.

"Yeah." Claus nodded in agreement before he groaned and took off his helmet.

"Oh Claus, you didn't tell me you had PSI fever!" Fassad said in shock when he saw the red tint on Claus's face.

"Huh? Oh… yeah. I've had it since just before the battle with Lucas on Snowcap Mountain. It's also another reason why I had trouble fighting with them," Claus answered, frowning.

Fassad put his hand over the boy's forehead, making Claus flinch back a bit. "What are you doing?"

"Just hold still. I'm going to help you awaken your PSI so the fever will go away. Now this may hurt a bit," Fassad said as he placed his hand over the 13 year old boy's forehead.

Claus hissed and gritted his teeth as he felt his entire head tingling before a searing burn sensation took over his body. He always hated getting PSI fevers because it gets really painful, especially when the PSI awakens. The boy panted as the burning sensation cooled off and a name popped into his head.

 _Brainshock._

The boy fell on his butt after the fever finally passed and he rubbed his head, though it didn't hurt anymore.

"So what did you learn?" Fassad asked him.

"I learned Brainshock," Claus answered.

"Ah, a dangerous kind of offensive assist PSI." Fassad commented. "While not quite as destructive as Counter is on a large scale, at least not unless you can learn the omega level, it can be very dangerous on the target. It causes them to hallucinate and make them unable to tell who's friend or foe."

"I'll… have to remember that," Claus said, looking down at his hands. "Oh, Fassad… where's the next Needle we should go to?"

"... Well… I've already sent some troops to find Phrygia's Needle, but it's hard to pinpoint their location," Fassad said. "All we know is that it's near Mr. Saturn Valley."

"Mr. Saturn…?" Claus blinked, having never heard of such a name before.

"Ah yes, I never told you. Mr. Saturns are very… strange creatures. They don't appear to be intelligent, but they can invent things even our best scientists aren't able to. And anyways they may know where the Needle is," Fassad explained.

"Then in that case I'll go there and see if I can find it first to set up a trap around the Needle so we can finally catch him," Claus said quickly as he stood up.

"Now wait a minute Claus, you just got back from a mission failure," Fassad spoke up.

"I-I know, but if I could just get to the Needle first then I can actually set up traps to capture my brother and bring him back here," Claus said, hoping the Magypsy would let him go.

"And how will you find the Needle? Mr. Saturn may not tell you where it is," Fassad asked.

"I'll find a way. Just please let me go and try and to capture my brother this time," Claus said. "He's still my brother and my responsibility."

"... Very well. I'll trust you'll protect the Needle and capture Lucas," Fassad said with a sigh.

"Thank you. So how do I get to Mr. Saturn Valley?" Claus asked, grateful that Fassad's giving him another chance.

"You remember where Thunder Tower is, right? Just go through a tunnel that has a road block and it should lead you to Mr. Saturn Valley," Fassad told him.

Claus gave a nod. "Okay, I'll go right now."

"Oh and before you do… just know that since you pulled at least one Needle-" Claus cringed at the reminder, "you're able to use PK Love in the Beta level. So don't be afraid to use it if you feel you must, your PK Love won't hurt anyone you don't want it to hurt."

"Oh… yeah, the Beta level." Claus gave a small gulp. It was quite ironic how the very thing that took out half their army was also something he himself could use, and pretty scary at the same time.

"Don't fear your own PK Love, Claus. It's a special PSI that uses your heart and love that creates such a devastating power," Fassad said, seeing Claus's troubled look.

"I… I just… never had the same control with my PK Love as Lucas did," Claus sighed. "I guess I'm just worried I might really hurt someone with it."

"It's natural to feel afraid," Fassad said. "But you can't let fear stop you from doing what you think is right."

"Y-yeah… and with this Brainshock ability I think I may be able to trap my brother a lot easier," Claus said before turning to the door. "Wish me luck, Fassad… I'm going to need it."

* * *

Claus began walking out of base, but he had a strong sense of foreboding and it made him uneasy. _Should I stay behind? Something's not right…_ Then he shook his head. _No, I already have a mission to capture my brother and I'll see it through._

As soon as Claus walked out of the base, he noticed a few Pigmasks going in. Something about them seemed… off, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Just as Claus headed off, the Pigmasks that had just entered the base whispered to each other, "You have a diagram of the interior?"

"Yeah, we won't get lost with this baby."

"Hey, is that the Commander?"

Claus looked at them and they looked nervously at him. "What are you four doing?"

"Uh, just doing a task assigned by one of the Captains… sir," one of them explained. He seemed a little unsure of himself, but Claus just decided to shrug it off. He's seen worse Pigmasks before.

"Right. Well good luck with your assignment," Claus said to the four Pigmasks before continuing to his destination of the fourth Needle.

Once he was on the surface, Claus activated his jetwings before using his helmet to try and find the fastest location to Mr. Saturn's Valley. "Looks like east is the quickest way…"

Claus took off into the sky and head towards the east. It was gonna be a while before he gets there, so Claus decided to think about home.

 _How long has it been since I left Tazmily to pursue my own brother like this? I wonder how everyone's doing back home… I wonder if Fuel managed to build that house he's been hoping to impress his dad with… I wonder if Caroline's bakery business made that new bread they've been wanting to try out… and Dad… with Lucas and Boney gone… he's all alone. I hope he's doing okay…_

It felt like weeks since the last time Claus saw his dad. He wondered how it must have been like, for everyone else he had to just suddenly disappeared in a few days. He hoped he was doing alright…

Something alerted him on his helmet to his right. "Huh?" He quickly swerved out of the way, a laser shot whizzing right past Claus, just grazing against his jetwings. "W-what was that?"

"Well now, out for a fly Commander?" A voice spoke up nearby.

"What?" Claus's visible red eye narrowed as a black blur came closer to him. "You!?" It was the black Pigmask and he was holding a laser gun. "What are you doing!?"

"Oh, let me guess; you're here to try and stop Lucas from pulling out the Needle, am I right?" The black Pigmask said. "Well I'm here to make sure you don't interfere. The time has come and you're being a big pest about it."

The black Pigmask shot another laser at Claus, who quickly spun around to dodge it. "Knock it off! I don't care about your stupid time or prophecy or whatever! That Dragon is _not_ going to wake up!"

"The world needs to be cleansed, Commander. And the Dark Dragon will be able to do just that. You'll have to get by me if you still plan to stop Lucas." The black Pigmask pursued Claus, who was trying to outspeed the black Pigmask and continue to the Needle. The Pigmask was able to keep up the entire time however, releasing a volley of laser shots at the boy. Claus was able to swerve through most of them, but still let a few graze over parts of his body.

"Ow!" Claus slowed his flying and looked at the black Pigmask. It looked like he was ready to release another volley of shots. "I don't have the time to take care of you now!"

"Well too bad, because I'm here to stall you until Lucas pulls the Needle," The black Pigmask said as he shot at Claus again.

The boy moved to avoid it before he activated his arm cannon and shot out a PSI Blast at him. The black Pigmask tried to dodge, but with Claus's precise aim he was still grazed by the blast.

Claus flew in front of the black Pigmask while he was distracted before shoving his organic left arm in his face. "Brainshock!"

The air around the black Pigmask suddenly became disorientated and he began to fly in erratic pattern.

"That should keep you off my back for a while," Claus said before he turned to fly away from him.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a blast from the black Pigmask fire off in a completely random direction. He smirked to himself and just out of curiosity looked back at the black Pigmask. The smirk suddenly turned to one of confusion as he saw something unexpected from the Pigmask: a large, red aura surrounding the Pigmask.

 _D-did my Brainshock do THAT?_ Claus thought to himself, not able to peel his eyes away from the red aura. It almost seemed as if the boy could see a face within the dark red air around the black Pigmask. The Pigmask spasmed a little, before the red aura disappeared and the black Pigmask stopped flying erratically, gaining his senses once again.

The black Pigmask was now catching up to him, shocking Claus. _No way! He snapped out of it that fast!? … That must be that 'special friend' of his I saw back at Thunder Tower._

The boy knew fighting while flying in midair would be dangerous, so he tried to outmaneuver him. Claus flew down into a forest, trying to use the trees as cover. Unfortunately the black Pigmask just destroyed any trees in his way with the laser gun. Claus shook his head as they started coming into the more desert-like highway.

Claus looked back to see he wasn't going to lose the black Pigmask any time soon, so he flew down into the traffic to try and hide in it. The black Pigmask growled angrily before raising his laser gun at the traffic.

 _He's not seriously thinking about killing all these innocent people just to get to me is he!?_ Claus thought in horror. _He must be more desperate than I thought!_

Claus gritted his teeth and quickly flew up so the cars wouldn't get caught up in their fight before he fired his PSI Cannon at him to throw him off a bit. "Are you so desperate that you'd sink so low as to hurt the innocent?"

"It's called sacrificing a few for the many. I'm sure that you of all people with your Pigmasks and twisted ideals have heard of it before. You must be stopped at all cost so Lucas can pull the Needle!"

Claus growled to himself seeing how stubborn this Pigmask was being. It didn't seem like there was any way to get rid of him besides taking him out himself.

"We don't sacrifice people for our own gain!" Claus snapped as him.

"Oh no? You plan to take out Lucas, a sweet innocent barely 13 year old child to stop him from pulling the seven Needles. And you even corrupted another child in your grasp, which angers me even more," The black Pigmask said darkly.

"What?" Claus had no idea what this man was going on about. There weren't any kids in the army as far as he knew, and _he_ was the youngest one there! "I don't know what you mean by corrupting a child, but I don't plan on killing Lucas, okay? We only plan on capturing him until we can convince him to stop pulling the Needles, that's all!"

"And what will you do then?" The black Pigmask interrogated, pointing his laser gun even more threateningly at Claus. "Continue to act on these plans of yours to 'rebuild' the world? Do you know how much people have lost because of your plans, the loved ones that are gone because of the things you've created like these chimeras of yours?"

Claus frowned at that, he wasn't sure if he himself agreed with these chimeras either, especially after his recent visit in the Chimera Lab. "The chimeras are meant to live out in the world's harsh environment while our best scientists in the colony find ways to bring in vegetation to the world. If they go out of control, it was because of some evil entity or a malfunction that we have no control over."

 _I wonder what happened to this guy? He really has issues…_ Claus frowned in thought as he landed on top of Thunder Tower, figuring it would be good to be on his feet to fight back. The black Pigmask followed him, landing a few feet in front of him.

"Finally decided to get land, huh? Good, this should make stopping you easier."

"Deja vu, right? This is where we first met," Claus said. "And I'm going to make sure I get you off my back!" He took out the hilt of his Thunder Striker before pouring his PSI into it, slowly creating the long electric blade. "You're a very dangerous Pigmask and I can't let you leave."

"That blade of yours… it looks very unique," The black Pigmask said. He didn't look fazed seeing how threatening Claus was being. "Does it happen to be fueled on PSI?"

"Why don't you find out for yourself?" Claus lunged at him and slashed the Thunder Striker at the black Pigmask, cutting half his uniform, revealing the 'fat' was just padding. The man must be pretty lean if he's using padding to look fat.

Claus then jumped around him and stabbed his shoulder, allowing the electricity from the sword to zap the mystery man. The man groaned in pain but was chuckling.

"Impressive… you really are strong…"

"And you really are annoying," Claus hissed. "Maybe you ought to chill here while I go stop Lucas. PK Freeze!" He shot out blast of crystals at the man's feet, freezing it. "I guess I'll leave you hanging until the ice melts."

"Not so fast." The black Pigmask used brute force to break the ice from his feet.

"Whoa… you're pretty dang strong." Claus frowned. "Fine, I guess I'll have to knock you out!" He came charging at the black Pigmask with his Thunder Striker again.

"Too bad you're forgetting something," The black Pigmask said before he took out a canister and sprayed some white gas into Claus's face.

Claus, not expecting that, inhaled the gas and choked on it. He felt his mind go numb, as if parts of his brain were shutting down.

"Gah! What… what did you do to me?" He glared before he tried to swing his sword again… only to realize that it was a lot weaker. "Wah?" He tried to put more PSI into it, but it was still getting weaker.

"Forgetting how to use PSI, Commander?" The black Pigmask asked tauntingly.

"N-no! PK Fire!" Claus tried to shoot fire at him, but nothing, not even a small spark, came out of his hand. "W-what? H-how?"

"Forgetful Gas," The black Pigmask said. "It makes it so you can't remember how to use your PSI. It's temporary but the effects will be long enough for me to take you out."

 _I can't use PSI now!? This is NOT good!_ Claus activated his jetwings, glad to see he could still use that, before flying away from Thunder Tower.

"You can't escape, I'll make sure you don't interfere!" The boy heard the mystery Pigmask shout at him.

 _Ugh! What am I supposed to do? Most of my weapons are PSI based! All I can do is try to get away from him until I can remember how to use my PSI again!_

The boy tried to activate his helmet, but nothing was coming on. _DANG IT! The helmet uses PSI to analyze things! I guess I'm on my own!_

Claus could hear the lasers being fired at him from behind and he kept moving in a zigzag pattern to avoid as many hits as possible while trying to find the valley. Claus's Thunder Striker was still charged enough to be a blade, perhaps he could use it to his advantage. Claus was passing by the dump area and spotted something he could use to his advantage.

The boy flew towards a non-working Clayman before stabbing his sword into its antenna, zapping it to life and retracting the Thunder Striker back into its hilt. The Clayman instantly came up on its feet.

"I got you now!" The black Pigmask shouted from the sky.

"Get him!" Claus pointed at the incoming black Pigmask.

Without hesitation, the Clayman jumped and kicked the black Pigmask. Claus nodded to himself before he quickly flew in the opposite direction, heading into a tunnel, hoping to get out of sight as quickly as possible.

* * *

There was a roadblock ahead, but Claus flew over that and kept going until he came out of the tunnel. Claus stopped before landing on his feet, seeing the entire place was surrounded by Pork Tanks and Pigmasks, the ones on his side. It appears they have caught someone.

"HALT!" They shouted.

Claus was trying to squeeze through to see if Lucas was there, however just when he managed to get a glimpse, his brother's hands began to spark with determination in his blue eyes. "It's now or never," Claus heard him say, then what he said next made Claus's blood freeze. "PK Love Gamma!"

Claus saw a bright blue energy coming out of his brother's chest and it flew up into the sky before it exploded and raining down hexagonal bits and pieces onto the field, easily crushing the Pork Tanks and the Pigmasks. Claus yelped as he ran back to the tunnel to get away from the deadly PK Love Gamma Lucas fired.

The boy barely made it into the tunnel just as the PK Love slammed down and caused a quake and a rockslide strong enough to plug up the entrance. Claus looked at the now blocked entrance.

 _Uuuugh… why can't anything ever go my way for once!?_

Claus tried to activate his arm cannon to blast the rocks away, but his arm did not change. "Dang it! That stupid gas is making this impossible!"

"That's the point, Commander," The boy froze when he heard the black Pigmask's voice speaking up behind him. "Without your PSI you're just a normal human being, defenseless."

Claus hissed as he found himself face-to-face with the black Pigmask. There was a blockage behind him and he couldn't run forward without being caught by this mysterious man.

"Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way, Commander," The black Pigmask said. "You have a lot of potential and it would be a terrible waste if you were to die like this."

"And what are you hoping I do? Choose to go to your side?" Claus hissed.

"Not exactly… why not just help Lucas instead of trying to stop him? You can use the PK Love too, I know you pulled at least one of the Needles," The black Pigmask said, making the boy cringe at the reminder.

"That was an accident and a mistake I will NOT be repeating!" The boy snapped.

"An accident, you say? Then what drove you to pull the Needle then? A big Commander like you would have been more careful with something like one of the Needles," the black Pigmask said, almost interrogating Claus into admitting his reason.

"You're right… I should've been more careful. I was not aware the Needles had such power that could influence one's mind if they get close enough." Claus frowned. "But I won't fall for it again, and you are not making me pull anymore Needles! I'll stop my brother and you if I have to!"

"Your… _brother_?!" The black Pigmask looked stunned, so Claus took the opportunity to quickly close the distance between the two of them. The black Pigmask realized his mistake, putting one arm out and closing his eyes to brace for the attack, but it was a feint. Claus ran past him as soon as he was bracing himself.

The boy activated his wings to fly over the mountain, he couldn't get into the valley with the blockage covering up the tunnel, so he tried to find another way through. _Come on… there's gotta be another way…_

* * *

Claus flew towards a tall mountain, perhaps the tallest one on the island next to Snowcap Mountain. He landed at the base, trying to figure out what to do when he noticed there was an entrance leading inside the mountain. Curious, Claus decided to go in to investigate and saw a familiar looking pink-shelled house.

"Wait…" Claus blinked as he stared at the house. "That's a Magypsy's house!" _And if a Magypsy lives here… that means… the Needle must be nearby!_

The boy looked around and noticed the place was filled with lava. "This… is a volcano?"

The door of the pink-shelled house opened up, "Oh, be careful there! Wouldn't want to fall in, though I don't think someone like you minds getting a little spicy~"

"W-what?" Claus stepped back, weary of any Magypsy- except Fassad- since Doria tricked him into pulling their Needle. "How did you know I was here?"

The Magypsy yawned before responding. "I'm usually tired and napping, I do need my beauty sleep after all. But I could never mistake the aura of a PK Love user, even in my sleep!"

"Err… R-right… um… so uh… where is your Needle?" Claus asked, careful with his words.

"Oh, just right over there." They said nonchalantly, pointing in the general direction of the Needle before turning back to Claus. "Why? Has someone finally decided to pull my Needle all hero-like?" They said dreamily.

"... Sure, let's go with that. I'll be heading to the Needle now- but my brother may come by too," Claus said. "Maybe you should leave him a note or something if you decide to go back to sleep." He wasn't being serious, he was just trying to change the subject anyway he could just in case the Magypsy could tell he was lying.

"Oh that sounds like a good idea~ Very lovely indeed. I could sleep and help the PK Love user too!" They said with a big smile. "Oh yeah, there's something you should know. There's a boulder that needs some encouraging words if you want to move on."

"... A boulder…? Right…" Claus just turned and began walking.

* * *

The boy soon came across to the boulder the Magypsy was talking about. "Hmm… well I better leave this boulder here, it'll be a good obstacle to stop Lucas," Claus said to himself before activating his wings to fly over it, but then he felt hot searing pain in his side and was thrown into a wall. "Gah!"

"Stop right there, Commander!" Out of the corner of Claus's eyes, he could see that the black Pigmask had already found him again, walking ever closer to him. Claus hastily stood up, but to his surprise the black Pigmask seemed a little more hesitant to attack than before. "I need some answers from you."

Claus hissed as he rubbed the side that was hit and glared at the black Pigmask. "The answer is no! I'm not going to change my mind! I'm going to stop Lucas and protect the Needles, that is that!"

The black Pigmask aimed his gun more threateningly at Claus this time, his finger ready to pull on the trigger. "What do you know about Lucas? Why did you call him your brother?!"

"What?" Claus frowned before he remembered he had let that slip when he was yelling at the man before. The boy gritted his teeth as he just realized his mistake. "N-nothing! Nothing much! I just… heard a lot about him from another boy who called him his brother, it must've gotten mixed in with my subconsciousness, that's all!"

The black Pigmask didn't look very convinced, still holding his gun at Claus without faltering. "Another boy? What do you know about him? Where _is_ he?!" As the words tumbled out of the Pigmask's mouth, he almost sounded desperate or concerned. Claus didn't know what to make of the tone.

"I-I don't know! I don't keep tabs on everyone! The boy's probably back home or something!" Said boy snapped, not sure why this black Pigmask was getting worked up over this. "Why do you even care so much anyway? The boy can't even use PSI like Lucas can!"

The black Pigmask didn't say anything, just stayed staring at Claus with his gun raised at the boy. Claus could still feel his numb mind refusing to let him use PSI, so he stayed in place until the black Pigmask decided to act first.

Finally he spoke, "Who are you, Commander? You still called Lucas your brother. And I doubt someone promoted to commander rank would mix little things like calling your enemy your brother."

Claus and the black Pigmask stared at each other in silence, both tense and waiting for the other to make a move. Claus noticed his right wing was dented from the crash earlier, it was going to be hard to fly around like that.

"Would you believe that a Commander could be a 13 year old boy?" Claus said out of the blue to the black Pigmask. This was enough to distract the black Pigmask that Claus could get himself into the air, though he had trouble controlling himself with the dented wing. Seeing Claus slowly make his escape, the black Pigmask aimed at him warningly, but still didn't shoot.

"The Commander of an army, a 13 year old boy? Why would you say that? Are you telling me you're nothing more than a kid?" he asked. Claus noticed him slightly putting his gun down before pulling it back up to keep aiming at Claus.

"Come on you stupid jets, move!" Claus hissed, trying to get it to go faster. "I'm not saying I am! Just that would you believe it!" He answered back as he managed to get the jets to roar and zoom across the volcano. "WHOA!"

Claus flipped across the place, trying not to fall into the lava, his control over the jetwings were terrible due to the dented wing and he was trying to stabilize himself in the air. _O-okay, just have to compromise…_

* * *

"Alright." Claus perked up when he thought he heard Lucas's voice not too far away. Turning around in midair, he saw the Needle and his brother walking up to it. _Oh no…_

"STOOOOOP!" Claus shouted as he zoomed at his brother and tackled him to the ground.

"You!?" Claus turned his head to see Kumatora standing not too far from Lucas, along with Duster and Boney. All three of them look surprised, but ready to fight.

Claus focused his attention back to Lucas, who looked surprised and afraid at the sudden tackle. The older boy felt bad, but he still had his duty to do. "Don't pull that Needle."

"You're not going to stop us!" Kumatora snapped at Claus. The boy turned to her, staring daggers at her and wishing he could slap the stubbornness out of her. He was about to retaliate when a familiar voice sounded from behind all of them.

"She's right, and I'll make sure you won't."

 _How did he catch up so quickly!?_ Claus hissed to himself as the other four turned around to see the black Pigmask, standing there with his gun.

"What the? Who the heck are you?" Kumatora demanded, probably frustrated that another Pigmask came to 'stop' them. Lucas, Duster and Boney just looked surprised.

"I'm just someone who's on the same side as you. I'm going to make sure Lucas pulls this Needle and that this pig head of a commander don't interfere," The black Pigmask said as he held his gun at Claus again, though he still seemed hesitant to shoot it for some reason.

Claus glared defiantly, knowing he was outmatched and outnumbered, especially without his PSI, but he still wasn't going down without a fight. "I don't care that you disabled my PSI, I'll make sure you don't succeed." He looked down at his twin brother, who was looking at him in shock.

The black Pigmask suddenly shot at him. Claus reacted by flying away from the laser, but he was still having trouble stabilizing himself. Claus had to land or he might end up in lava. The boy landed in front of his brother and said, "Lucas! Please don't pull the Needle! We can't afford to have that Dragon wake up!" _Please, listen to reason Lucas! Don't make another mistake!_

Lucas looked right into Claus's red eye, and he could see that there was a ton of conflict going on in his mind. He responded quietly, "But… I have to…"

"Don't try to talk him out of it Commander."

Claus felt a blunt force from the black Pigmask hit his helmet as he fell to the ground, slightly touching the Needle. The light of the Needle opened up his mind, Claus could remember how to use his PSI again. "Because it must be done, no matter what."

Claus gritted his teeth as he stood back up. "Then I'll stop you no matter what."

He knew what he had to do. This guy was no ordinary man, something inhumane and powerful is helping him, and his regular PSI attacks won't work, he'll have use his strongest one if he hope to ever stop him. Sparks began appear on his hand as he began charging it up.

The black Pigmask glanced at Claus as he saw the sparks. "No! The Forgetful Gas shouldn't have worn off that quickly!"

Lucas's eyes widened when he saw Claus using the PSI, turning to his friends. "Everyone get down!"

Claus felt his attack charged up fully, finally unleashing it as he yelled, "PK Love Beta!"

The attack was just like Lucas's when he used it against his defending army; the sky blue energy came out of his hands with far bigger hexagonal explosion than the alpha stage, it almost covered the entire area. Claus intentionally controlled it to not hurt Lucas and his friends, only aiming for the black Pigmask. The PSI energy exploded over the black Pigmask, tearing through its rough uniform, revealing another set of clothes in them, the mask was tearing apart too but it was still enough to cover his face. As soon as the PK Love was finished, Claus didn't hesitate to activate his Thunder Striker and jumped at the black Pigmask to finish the job.

"S-stop!" Claus heard Lucas's voice cry out from behind him. He stopped midway, turning to see Lucas on the ground with his hand outstretched towards them.

"Lucas… why- Oof!" Claus was suddenly thrown back as the black Pigmask kicked him with the opening he had, sending Claus to the floor and his sword hurtling through the air.

"Hmph…" Without saying a word, the black Pigmask turned to make his escape.

"G-get back here!" Claus shouted at him angrily, standing up to run for his sword.

Not really paying attention, Claus grabbed the nearest yellow glowing object to him. He pulled a bit, only to realize it was stuck. Claus pulled harder, feeling his mind going numb the more he did. He heard Lucas gasping in shock.

 _What's he gasping about?_ Claus turned to see his sword was indeed stuck good in the ground. He had to use both hands to grab the hilt and began pulling, not realizing his hands were starting to spark with PK Love.

"What are you doing?! Get your hands off that thing!" he heard Kumatora shout. Out of the corner of Claus's eye, he could see Lucas trying to hold her back.

"N-no Kumatora, it's too late! He's already in the middle of pulling it!" Boney and Duster were already fleeing from the scene, and Lucas was trying frantically to pull Kumatora away.

 _What's their problem? I'm just trying to get my sword out! Are they scared I'd strike at them?_ Claus wondered to himself, feeling something was wrong. Still, he didn't want to stop pulling and he could feel his sword was getting loose. _Almost there…_

Finally, the boy managed to pull it all the way out, and the sword suddenly disappeared as soon as he did. "Wha-?"

Psychedelic lights flashed suddenly before the entire earth began to shake, surprisingly not raising the lava, and the heartbeat was heard. Thick smoke spouted out from the hole in the ground as Claus stepped back, confused as to why this was happening. After the dramatic shakes and lights disappeared, all that was left was the familiar bubbly misty substance in the hole.

* * *

"What… just happened?" Claus just felt like he's been duped somehow. "Lucas? Lucas did you pull the Needle?"

Shortly after Claus's call, Lucas and everyone else were coming back, with Kumatora in the lead. She looked fumed and ready to pummel something as her hands sparked dangerously.

"What was _that_ , huh!? The big Commander of you danged Pigsnots pulled _another_ Needle! What kind of hypocrite are you!?" she lashed out at him with one hand aimed and ready to fire right at his chest.

"What are you even TALKING about lady!?" Claus snapped, already losing his patience with her and her attitude towards him. "I was just trying to get my sword out of the ground!"

"You mean this?" Duster said. Claus looked behind him to see that Duster was now holding the small knob that held his sword. "Boney was playing with it when we were hiding from that quake. He said it smelled familiar. At least, that's what Lucas said."

"What?" Claus looked at it before realizing that was indeed his Thunder Striker in its inactive form. "Then what was that thing I just…?" He looked back at the hole of the thing he just pulled and felt the blood leaving his face as realization began to dawn on him. "Oh… no… no, no, no! Please don't tell me I just pulled the Needle!"

Kumatora groaned out loud while Lucas watched the two of them nervously. "Oh don't tell me you're trying to act like this was a fluke. What are you Pigsnots _really_ planning? To destroy the world instead? By pulling all these Needles with someone with a dark heart? I should-!"

"You don't understand!" Claus shouted, a tear glistened on his cheek from his hidden eye. "We're really trying NOT to pull the Needles! That Needle really did look like my sword! I don't know what happened! I didn't want to pull it, I wanted to stop Lucas from pulling it! This wasn't supposed to happen!" He pounded the ground with his fist, getting fed up that not once but _twice_ he had committed the forbidden sin of pulling the Needle.

Lucas, Duster and Boney looked at Claus with uncertainty. Only Kumatora was the one who didn't seem convinced. "How could you _not_ have pulled it?! Was the warm light and bright glow not proof enough for ya? You're a really good actor if this is you lying."

The masked boy clenched his fists, he knew he had no excuse, and now they're blaming him for it. The Pigmasks will treat him as an enemy for sure, there's no way after making such a devastating mistake twice would allow him back in the base, not even by Fassad after being warned once. Claus felt so alone now.

Standing up, he walked past them for about a feet before turning to them, seeing them grouped together. He wiped away the tear on his cheek before making his tone go cold. "You're right… I have no excuse. I'm just a traitor and a failure, giving the Pigmasks a bad name because of my incompetence." He was slowly building up for a certain PSI within him, starting to raise his hand at them. "I might as well just disappear. After all, no one would miss a scum like me, right?"

Lucas was looking at Claus now sympathetically. In fact, he looked like he was the only one who really cared about the turmoil Claus was feeling right now. "Are… are you okay?"

"Goodbye. Brainshock." The entire air disorientated around the group of four, making them all dizzy and looking around as if not sure what they're seeing.

With them distracted by his Brainshock, Claus turned and ran away. He didn't know where to go other than one place right now.

* * *

 _It's time I turned in my badge. I don't deserve to be a commander- heck I don't deserve to be a part of the army anymore. I'm going to have to tell Master Porky that I should be fired and to never come back again…_

With that thought in mind, the boy saw the Magypsy from earlier walking out of their house, and her body was flickering in and out of existence before they saw him.

"Oh, so you really _did_ pull my Needle! Thank you so much, sweetie~" They said, with their hands on their cheeks as they made a kissy face at him.

"... I really shouldn't have…" Claus said softly. "It should've been Lucas really… I'm not the one with the good heart." _I would've preferred it if neither of us had pulled it, but the fact that it was me…_ He wanted to punch himself for being so stupid again.

"Oh, Lucas? He's such a sweetie too, but you remind me just like him! A cute young boy with a heart of gold~"

"You say that… but I don't think that's what Kumatora thinks," Claus sighed sadly. "I'm… sorry about this. Maybe you should talk to Lucas before you disappear."

"Now why you gotta be so down? You did a good thing for this world!" The Magypsy said as they walked closer to Claus. "Now you said something about Lucas? It would be so nice to see him again after so long!"

 _I don't consider being one step closer to waking the apocalypse a_ good _thing for this world,_ Claus bitterly thought to himself. "He'll probably be on his way here soon. Maybe you could tell him where the rest of the Needles are." _It's not like he doesn't know, he always seem to know where to go next anyways. And I'm not a part of the Pigmasks anymore, so why bother trying to stop him now?_

"I would love to, I barely get to see him especially with all the sleep this lovely body needs. But I'm afraid I'm not long for this world, but I left him a lovely letter and memento in my home~" they said, looking like she loved the thought of disappearing dramatically. Claus really wasn't in the mood for this kind of attitude right now.

"That's nice I guess," Claus said, trying not to sound rude to the disappearing Magypsy. "Well I hope you have a fun time... disappearing. I better go now."

The boy walked to the exit of the mountain, looking back at the disappearing Magypsy one more time before heading out. He looked up at the sky, knowing what he had to do. He first activated his jetwings and used his mechanical arm to try and fix the little dent on his right wing. When he was satisfied with that, he activated the jets and took off into the sky, making a beeline to the base.

* * *

Claus felt numb during his journey through the sky, he was trying not to think about anything, because thinking would lead to more guilt and the reminder that he just… Claus shook his head, trying to keep his thoughts empty. He landed on the surface of the base and about to go into it when he finally woke up from his trance-like state.

"Wh-what the…?" There was a large crater in the ground where the base was. "What happened here!?"

He slide down into the crate, seeing many injured Pigmasks, some he feared were probably dead. He saw crushed Pork Tanks all over the place, he frowned before he saw Fassad laying there, his body looking broken.

Claus let out a horrified gasp as he ran to his mentor. "Fassad! Fassad are you okay? What happened here?" He put his arms around the weak Magypsy.

He coughed and sputtered before finally speaking. "Claus… we were attacked… those dang renegades…"

"The renegades? How did they get in?" Claus shook his head. "Nevermind that, we need to get you and everyone else here to the hospital!" He tried to pick up Fassad, but he was too big and heavy for Claus to help lean on.

"D-don't… don't bother… We have all our doctors… helping out… I'm a Magypsy so… I can hold out better than… the humans can," Fassad said weakly.

"Fassad… how did this happen?" Claus felt like this was the worst day of his life, first he went and pulled the dang Needle _again_ , he felt like his brother was truly against him for acting like a 'hypocrite', and now he returned to see the entire base was destroyed and his mentor could possibly be dying in his arms right now. _I should've stayed behind… none of this would've ever happened if I had just stayed!_

"Bombs… they… the renegades… they bombed… the entire base… they planted the bombs… in the weakest part of the base… and destroyed it… while we were still inside," Fassad wheezed, trying not to splutter too much.

"Why would they do this?" Claus remembered what the black Pigmask said, saying how sacrifices were necessary for the good of the world. He gritted his teeth as he thought of that. _Those sick, twisted… Is this what's going to be like if Lucas succeeds? Will everyone have to die like this once the Dragon is awaken? Because of me FOUR of the seven Needles have been pulled! But… I can't just… leave everyone like this…_

"I… I don't… know…" Fassad coughed a bit. "Listen… I know… the Needle has been pulled… but it's not too late… to stop the awakening… There are… three Needles left… Claus… I have no doubt… that Lucas will attempt to get… the one on Tanetane Island next… you must go there… and guard it with your life…"

"Tanetane Island? B-but… Fassad… I… I don't think you can trust me to protect the Needles anymore…" Claus said hesitantly.

"I… I have to… everyone else… can't… you're the only… one left… who can stop him… right now… Claus. You can't… be afraid… to fight back with… everything you have," Fassad said weakly.

Claus looked away, remembering the look on Lucas's face when he saw him pull the Needle. Lucas would never trust him again, whether he's the Commander or Claus, because 'Claus' is nothing but a liar. "I… I will try, Fassad… But… I can't just leave you like this. Where is Master Porky?"

"He's… buried… right now… but he'll… be fine… he's immortal, remember?" Fassad wheezed.

"O-oh, right… but how could I just leave seeing you all like this?" Claus bit his lip. He had thought he would be a traitor when he came back, instead he's their only hope left.

"We'll be fine, Claus…" Fassad said, coughing a little more. "Our doctors will take care of all of us, and we'll be up and about… soon. But you still have to stop Lucas, Claus…"

Claus frowned, not liking this situation he was put in. He had pulled his second Needle, yet the Pigmasks still relied on him, needed his help, even though Claus himself didn't find that he was fit for the job.

"B-but Fassad… I… _I_ pulled that last Needle! I can't do it! What if I pull another one?" Claus felt _terrified_ at the thought he would pull another Needle.

"Claus…" Fassad said, looking at the boy a little sadly. "Whatever you did that made you pull that Needle… I'm sure it wasn't on purpose. You're still the most suited… out of _all_ of us to stop Lucas from getting the rest. He's already… halfway there," As he spoke, Fassad continued to wheeze between his words.

"F-Fassad! … D-don't talk anymore, just save your strength," Claus said softly. "I'll… I'll try my best to guard the remaining Needles with my life. Are you sure you'll be okay?"

Fassad nodded weakly as Claus sighed. "Alright, I'll head for Tanetane Island immediately."

Just as the boy stood up, he turned to see Dr. Andonuts approaching Fassad with some tools. "Dr. Andonuts?"

"Claus! Oh I wasn't expecting to see you here," Dr. Andonuts said. "I was back at the chimera lab when this bombing thing hit. The renegades were chased off by the Ultimate Chimera that was probably lured by the sound of the bombing. Thankfully we were able to avoid being captured thanks to that, but a lot of people are dying."

"I know…" Claus frowned. "I have to go protect the remaining Needles…"

"I'm sure you do. But Claus… have you noticed something odd happening in Tazmily? It might just be me but it feels… emptier now," Dr. Andonuts said.

"What? What do you mean?" Claus blinked, looking at the short doctor.

"Oh, it might just be me rambling, but I've noticed these things while walking around Tazmily every now and then. It's almost as if there are less people wandering the streets these days. It might be that they're moving to that big fancy city Master Porky set up," the doctor said, waving his hand out dismissively. "But that might just be some farfetched observation."

"... New Pork City?" Claus had heard about it from Master Porky a few times but never actually been there himself. "He finally opened it?"

"Yup, and it's very popular from what I hear. If you want to make it big that's the place to be, or so I've heard people say," Dr. Andonuts said with a shrug. "Now you better get going Claus, time is of the essence and I must fix up Fassad."

"R-right," Claus turned to Fassad and said, "I'll do the best I can to stop my brother."

With those words said, Claus activated his jetwings again and flew over Tazmily, heading towards the ocean. Claus checked his helmet's data on the destination. _Let's see… by flying I should be there in about ten minutes or so…_

"HEY COMMANDER! _SURPRISE_!" Someone shouted from behind and shot a laser into Claus's back, right where his jetwings were.

"WAH!" Claus spun in the air to see two renegade Colonels laughing in the air. He glared before he decided to do something before he hit the water below. "PK Thunder Beta!" He shot out lightning at the two just before he fell into the water with a big SPLASH!

"Gah!" the lightning struck at one of the renegades, while his buddy quickly rushed forward to grab him before he fell from the sea.

Claus finally surfaced from the water, glaring at the two who shot him. He felt a little satisfied knowing that he at least struck one of them, as he was now dangling in the air while his buddy had to carry him back to shore. The boy turned to his back to see it was smoking.

"Uuuugh… great, now I can't fly," Claus groaned before realizing he wasn't close to shore at all. "... And now I'm stranded…"

A shadow swam under the boy. Claus noticed as he was looking down, frantic, he tried to move away from it but then it grabbed his leg and dragged him under! Claus yelped and struggled as he was dragged underwater and away from the surface.

 **End of Part 4**


	30. Chapter 30: Welcome Back to Tazmily

**DarkFoxKit: Fyyyyyyre… why is there a cat in here?**

 **Donfyre: Uh… what are you talking about? *looks at where Fox was looking at* Aww, look! A kitty!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Is this a joke? Who brought this cat here?**

 **Donfyre: Um… Mew in disguise? *cocks my head* … Eh, it won't really bother us anyways, right? Isn't it respond to reviews time now anyways?**

 **DarkFoxKit: *picks up the cat and put it on a pillow* Fine, let's do this! *Jumps on Fyre's head***

 **Donfyre: WAH! DX *stumbles around* H-hey!**

 ***The cat then jumped on my head***

 **DarkFoxKit: … This is awkward.**

 **Donfyre: J-just get on with the reviews before I collapse. Which will happen. Sooner or later. x_x**

 **DarkFoxKit: Alright, let's do this! … Cat, you better not scratch me!**

* * *

 **Shimo no ko: I'm glad you're able to still review and very happy you enjoyed the last chapter of Part 4. And the pulling of the Seven Needles arc mostly shows the different goals of Lucas and Claus and how they react. And well, we can't have Lucas pulling all the Needles, and Claus will never learn the stronger levels of PK Love if he doesn't. And very clever with the brainshock there. XD And I hope you don't torture your little brother because this one was a little late. ^^'**

 **FanofFiction123: Donfyre: We've come a long way from the story, huh? And good, keep speculating about the black Pigmask. c:**

 **Yeah, Claus has a lot of stress he has to go through at such a young age. ^^; But he's managing, at least with what you've seen so far. Except with those Needles, those are rough on him considering he's pulled some himself. XP**

 **You got Undertale AND Mother 3? YAY! :D**

 **CalmTheHydregion: DarkFoxKit: … Riiiiiight. Not sure what that has to do with Fairy types. ^^' Or this chapter.**

 **Bloxxystudious: Fangirl/boying of there? :P And was that supposed to be a pun? ^^' And Porky didn't taunt them, they're not even at the tower yet. If you mean the one in the game, he's a bad guy there.**

 **Donfyre: Nice to know I got you worked up by saying your name, Bloxxy. :P Though I'm not sure either what you meant by "Hammmy". ^^;**

 **CalculusNova: Well, if you think you got the answer, then don't spoil it please. XP And cool, we got you a-thinking about this stuff in our story!**

 **Connor the speling pro: Oh hey, I like that too! Doing more original things but using a fandom as a "template", you could say. Those are usually solo stuff I do though, because I always think my ideas are too stupid to tell others. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: You are not! *the cat and I swayed on Fyre's head***

 **Donfyre: W-wah! *stumbles more, still managing to keep my balance* I never said I was. Just my original ideas I have for fanfics that pop into my head. ^^; A-anyways, nice how the Pigmasks aren't the sole dominators, that they have other problems to deal with besides Lucas and co., huh?**

 **DarkFoxKit: I wasn't sure how else Claus was going to pull the Needle, but maybe the next one will seem a little less forced. ^^' And you don't care about cliffhangers, huh? At least you're not going crazy waiting for the next chapter to be out. XD**

* * *

 ***The cat then jumped from my head and started brushing itself against Fyre***

 **Donfyre: Uh… w-what are you doing? That kinda tickles, Fox will probably fall off if I start laughing.**

 ***Fyre was already wobbling as the cat continued to brush itself against him***

 **DarkFoxKit: Whoa! … O-okay, well we hope you enjoy this chapter and we look forward to hearing from you! WAH!**

 ***The cat was now tickling Fyre's tummy with its tail***

 **Donfyre: WAAAH! *falls in a heap with Fox* Ow… w-who the heck is this cat's owner? DX S-shouldn't we end this off before… something else happens?**

 ***DarkFoxKit is growling at the cat***

 **DarkFoxKit: You little…! COME HERE!**

 ***The cat took off and DarkFoxKit was right behind it. Everyone could hear a lot of things crashing and falling.***

 **Donfyre: Uhhhh…. *looks at them, sweatdropping* That was, uh…. weird. Um, you guys go ahead and enjoy the chapter! We hope to hear from you next time. Now I'm just gonna go… see if I can help without getting myself clawed to death- WHOA!**

 ***the cat and DarkFoxKit run over the camera, going to static***

* * *

 **Chapter 30: Welcome Back to Tazmily**

 _I was somewhere in Sunshine Forest, but it was very dark and almost spooky here. It felt very foreboding… and my head hurts… Then I saw someone up ahead..._

" _Ugh… Claus…?" I reached out for my brother._

 _Claus had his back turned to me and slowly looked back at me. Something was wrong with him._

" _I'm sorry Lucas… I have to go…"_

 _I took one step towards him. "Claus… what's wrong?"_

" _I… I've done something really bad… everyone hates me…" He said with a very scared look on his face._

" _Claus…" I took another step towards him, my hand outstretched. But it didn't look like I was getting any closer. "I haven't seen you in a long time… What's wrong? You can tell me."_

" _N-no… I can't tell you… I just can't… you'll hate me." Why is he saying this? What's wrong with him?_

 _Claus began running in the opposite direction. I held out my hand and tried to run after him, but my body refused to move._

" _CLAUS!" I yelled out for him._

 _Then I felt strange… that same foreboding feeling I had when the forest was on fire and the Pigmasks invaded Tazmily. Where Claus ran off I could see that mysterious figure from before._

" _What…? Who are you? You always only come when a great disaster is about to strike." I asked the figure._

 _The figure came closer to him, revealing that it looked identical to the Masked Man. It pointed at my chest for some reason._

" _Huh?" I looked down at my chest, putting my hands over it. I looked back at this mysterious figure in confusion. "What are you trying to say?"_

 _The mysterious figure reached into its pocket and took out a shiny object that looked like a badge of some kind before pointing at my chest again._

 _Before I could ask it anymore questions, it vanished._

"Healing Beta!"

* * *

Lucas gasped when everything around him shifted and changed, the dark forest he was in was now the volcanic caverns, and in front of him was Kumatora with her hand over his forehead. She leaned back and sighed in relief when she saw that Lucas was awake now.

"Oh good, you're up. I was starting to worry that Brainshock really did something bad to your head." Lucas stood up and groaned as Kumatora was saying this, rubbing his head that was still throbbing a little.

"What happened?"

"Apparently the Masked Man used something called 'Brainshock' on us," Duster answered. "It made us see things."

" _I thought I was a cat. It was horrifying…"_ Boney whimpered.

"Yeah, it was really bad," Kumatora summed up. "I recovered the fastest and managed to help Duster and Boney here. You passed out though, and based on the convulsions your body was making now and then, you weren't having any sweet dreams."

Lucas frowned and sighed, "I… think something's wrong with Claus… He looked terrified about something and kept saying that I would hate him if I knew. Do you think it means anything?"

" _Do you think Claus is in danger?"_ Boney asked, not liking the sound of that.

"Well… you two _are_ twins. Maybe something is wrong with him," Duster said. "But we should just focus on getting out of here first, then see if we can find a way back to Tazmily."

"A-alright," Lucas said, slowly standing up. The heat of the caverns were already starting to get to him, and it wasn't helping with his already throbbing head from just waking up. "I want to see if Claus is back when we get back to Tazmily. And... maybe check up on things like I wanted to if there's time."

"Well I suppose we should head back," Kumatora said with a frown. "But remember we have to find the other remaining three Needles."

With that said the group of four headed out of the volcanic caverns. Boney gave a small whine. _"That sword thing really did have a familiar smell to it. Maybe if I had it longer I could've distinguished the smell…"_

"Do you think the Masked Man could be someone we know, Boney?" Lucas asked his dog.

" _It's… possible…"_

"... You guys go on ahead. I'm going to see if Phrygia left behind anything before 'she' disappeared," Kumatora said as they were passing the pink shell house. "If we're lucky 'she' might've left us a note on where the remaining Needles are."

"Are you sure?" Lucas asked. Kumatora just nodded her head and was already on her way to Phrygia's house. "Oh, well… good luck then."

"She'll be fine Lucas, she's just checking around to see if this Magypsy's left anything," Duster said. "Probably another one of those Mementos they keep giving us. But we really should keep going."

"Yeah… okay," Lucas nodded.

* * *

When they exited out of the volcano, Lucas and Boney were very happy to be back in a nice cool place without all the lava.

" _YES! NO MORE LAVA! NO MORE CHIMERAS THAT ARE_ MADE _FROM LAVA!"_ Boney howled in happiness.

"Should we wait for Kumatora here?" Lucas asked as they headed down into the village. The Mr. Saturn were as lively as ever.

"I'm sure she should be with us any second now," Duster said. As if on cue, Kumatora was running for them from behind, holding two things in her hand.

"Hey! I found some useful things that Phrygia left behind!" she said, slowing down and holding out the two items. One was a familiar Memento that the Magypsies had been giving them so far, the other was a neatly written letter. According to the letter, the other two Needles are at Tanetane Island and Argilla Pass. But the last one's location is unknown.

"Well this will certainly make the Needle hunting easier," Duster said.

" _Why did 'she' have to write this at the end?"_ Boney said, putting a paw at the end of the letter, where it said "Smoochie smoochie" complete with a heart at the end. _"There's something about these Magypsies that always creeps me out."_

"They're a strange bunch, but they mean no harm," Lucas chuckled, remembering Claus's reaction to them when they first met Aeolia. Remembering Claus gave a sad sting in Lucas's heart, he really missed his brother. "Come on, I want to check up on Tazmily before we do anymore Needle hunting."

They made their way to the tunnel, but when they tried to go through it was blocked by rocks.

"What is this!?" Kumatora snapped.

"Apparently there was a rockslide here," Duster groaned.

" _Oh great, how are we going to get out of here now? … Hey, maybe Lucas could just turn these rocks into pebble with his PK Love gamma meteor thing. He can crush tanks with it,"_ Boney suggested, looking at the blond haired boy.

"Err… That takes a lot out of me… and I might accidentally cause another rockslide if I did that," Lucas said with a frown. "Maybe we can ask Mr. Saturn if there's another way out of here?"

The group split up and began asking the Mr. Saturn if there was another way out. One of them said, "BIRDIE MACHINE CAN HELP. DING."

"What?" Lucas blinked at that.

"BIRDIES FOR VEHICLE. LOTS OF BIRDIES FOR FLYING PEOPLE," The Mr. Saturn said. "CAN HELP. BUT NEED MORE BIRDIES."

"Birds? O-okay, how do I catch these birds?" Lucas asked, still not sure if Mr. Saturn meant actual birds.

Boney walked beside Lucas with a red bird in his mouth. He put it down in front of Mr. Saturn. _"... I was saving it for dinner, okay?"_

Lucas looked at Boney. "... I didn't even know you got one…"

" _Hey, we haven't had a decent meal for days! I just thought one of the birds looked delicious and stuffed it in our bag. But if it's our ticket home, then give me premium kibble any day,"_ Boney said as his mouth drooled.

Lucas sweatdropped, looking back at the Mr. Saturn to see it… tying a balloon to its nose. "ONE BIRDIE GOOD. HAVE LOT MORE BIRDIES. YOU REST IN HOT SPRING NOW WITH FRIENDS." It walked away with the balloon still tied to its nose. "COME BIRDIE. ZOOM!"

"What are they going to do with that balloon?" Duster questioned.

"It's Mr. Saturn, don't question it," Kumatora sighed.

"I guess we'll just have to wait until they're done with the 'birdie machine' then," Lucas said. "I guess we could relax in the hot spring for a bit, that way we'll be refreshed when we get to Tazmily."

" _I'm glad I don't wear clothes. It's a bit silly watching you humans going into the hot springs with your clothes on. They dry surprisingly fast though,"_ Boney commented as they went to the hot springs.

"We usually don't have enough time for that," Kumatora said as she dipped herself in. "And I am NOT undressing myself in a group of guys."

Lucas was blushing hard at the implications there, but he tried his best not to think about it too much. The rest of them slowly dipped into the hot spring. One of the Mr. Saturn was in the corner of the hot spring, though Lucas wondered how it was breathing since its mouth and half of its nose was submerged.

"WANT COFFEE?" Mr. Saturn asked them. There were cups beside it, filled with coffee.

Lucas never drank coffee before, he looked over at Duster and Kumatora, wondering if he should try it.

Kumatora just shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, why not? I think you're old enough for some coffee."

"Yeah, I'll try some coffee," Lucas said.

"BOING." Mr. Saturn seemed pretty happy about that, though it was hard to tell from the expression.

Lucas took a cup and slowly sipped it. It tasted a little bitter but also sweet and mellow. He was about to compliment on it when he felt kinda odd. Everything around him changed into clouds and he felt at peace as he heard a nice voice talking to him as he began sipping more coffee.

* * *

" _Lucas… you've done a lot on your journey so far. And with each little step you have taken you've grown stronger, bit by bit."_

"Hmm…? I have?" Lucas smiled at that, feeling proud as he took another sip of coffee.

" _Yes, but it wasn't just for you that you've grown strong. You've grown strong for others. They are the reason you are strong now. Even still there are times when you show the timid, crybaby side in you, but now you've come a long way."_

"Heh… I'm glad to know I've done a lot in my life. It feels so nice…" Lucas smiled, taking another sip of coffee.

" _Your journey is still far from over however. There's no telling where it will go now, but you still have your companions, your friends there right beside you. Trust in them. Everyone is watching you now, supporting you in every way. Now go, you have nothing to fear now."_

Lucas gave a smile as he took the last sip of coffee. The clouds slowly faded away and he found himself back in the hot springs with his friends looking at him in concern.

"What the heck was in that coffee?" Kumatora demanded.

"SPECIAL INGREDIENTS FROM PSIONIC," Mr. Saturn answered.

" _Lucas, are you okay? You looked like you were in a trance as you kept drinking that coffee,"_ Boney asked the boy in concern.

"Um, uh…" Lucas looked back into his coffee cup, seeing he finished the stuff pretty fast. "I'm good. But I think I'll pass for any more coffee."

"NO? WHY SAY NO? YOU NO TRY COFFEE?" Mr. Saturn sounded disappointed.

"What exactly happened? I didn't know you could get high from drinking coffee," Duster chuckled.

Lucas blushed and slowly sink down in the hot spring to hide his now red face.

"Riiiiight, no more coffee for the blushy boy here, alright?" Kumatora said to the disappointed Mr. Saturn, who looked even more disappointed.

"AW, KAY-O." Just as this Mr. Saturn walked away, another came to take its place.

"WE CLEAN BADGE YOU HAVE. MAKE INTO SPARKLY THINGY, DING."

"Huh?" Lucas blinked. "You mean this?" He held out his Courage Badge. "W-wait, you're going to take it? But this was a very important gift Claus gave me on my birthday…"

"NO. NO TAKE. ONLY BORROW. FEW MINUTES, ZOOM," The Mr. Saturn said, looking eagerly at the badge in Lucas's hand.

"But it's already pretty clean…" Lucas took very good care of the Courage Badge, it was the last thing Claus gave to him before he left the village.

"Just do it, Lucas. Let Mr. Saturn make it nice and shiny for you so we can get some peace and quiet," Kumatora grumbled.

"..." Lucas sighed before reluctantly handing over the badge to Mr. Saturn. "O-okay, please don't break it or anything."

"YAY! YAY! NO BREAK. WILL CLEAN NOW, ZOOM," The Mr. Saturn eagerly took the badge, running off somewhere and leaving Lucas a little worried about what will happen to it.

"Oh don't worry, Lucas," Kumatora assured when she saw Lucas's worried face. "These things are weird but pretty helpful. I'm sure they'll make the badge all shiny like they wanted."

* * *

After about 20 more minutes, they decided to get out of the hot springs. Lucas was still worried about the badge, Mr. Saturn hadn't come back yet.

"We should wait, I really want to get the Courage Badge back before we go," Lucas said.

"But we don't even know when it'll be back." Duster frowned. "I thought it said it'll take a few minutes, it's already been about twenty."

"Um, m-maybe I should ask around for it…" Lucas was about to go off and search the entire village for his badge, but the Mr. Saturn from earlier ran up to him and jumped up and down. "IS FINISHED, BOING! NOW NO DULL THINGY AND IS SPARKLY THINGY."

Lucas picked up the Courage Badge and saw it was very shiny indeed, much more shiny than he had ever seen it before. "Whoa… that really is shiny."

"NICE FRANKLIN BADGE. TAKE GOOD CARE. BOING," Mr. Saturn said.

"Franklin Badge?" Lucas blinked.

"YES. BADGE IS FRANKLIN BADGE. DING. NOW BIRDIE MACHINE IS READY. ZOOM ZOOM."

"Finally! Our ticket out of here's ready," Kumatora said, looking more than happy to finally leave. "Come on, you got your badge back Lucas. Now let's get out of here."

"O-okay!" Lucas said, deciding to pin the badge onto his shirt for now. It was nice knowing that the Mr. Saturns made it look brand new. And he wanted to see Claus again while wearing this badge when he made it back to Tazmily.

Mr. Saturn stood beside a huge birdcage with a lot of red birds in there. "BIRDIE MACHINE TAKE YOU HOME. HANG ON WITH ROPE AND FLY. ZOOM ZOOM!"

" _Uh… a bunch of birds are going to fly us in a cage?"_ Boney looked skeptical about that.

"Well if it's a rope we need, I have just the thing," Duster said with a smirk. He took out a familiar red slender creature from his pocket. "Rope Snake, do your thing!"

"At your service, Duster," Rope Snake said as it latched onto the cage with its mouth.

"Wait, a snake? You're going to use a snake as a rope?" Kumatora questioned, looking just as skeptical as Boney.

"Well it worked when Duster used it to save us from the avalanche," Lucas chuckled.

"Just trust in this thing, it helped a lot during my escapade in Osohe Castle," Duster said. "But I haven't tried it with so many people before…"

"Let's just try it," Lucas said. "It's our only way back to Tazmily."

"Alright fine, let's just get this over with," Kumatora sighed. "This better be better than when we were all cramped into that stupid metal box."

Duster grabbed onto the Rope Snake, with Lucas and Kumatora holding onto each of Duster's legs. The only one left now was Boney.

" _Uhhh… is there any room for me? I suppose I could grab Lucas's pants or something since if I tried to grab your leg with my teeth that could hurt, a lot,"_ Boney said when he realized he didn't have hands to grip things.

"My pants!?" Lucas replied in dismay. "W-what if it rips or something?"

"Oh just let the dog do it, Lucas," Kumatora said. "I'm not letting him bite _anywhere_ on me."

" _I'll be gentle, I promise!"_ Boney said as he used his mouth to grip onto Lucas's shorts.

"KAY-O. FLY TIME," Mr. Saturn said.

The birds in the cage began to fly, it was rather amazing how they could all work in sync like that. The cage slowly began to lift from the ground, the Rope Snake clinging tightly onto the cage while Duster held onto him and Kumatora and Lucas held onto his legs while Boney stayed on Lucas's pants.

* * *

Soon the cage took off into the sky, going over the highway and the forest below. Lucas yelp when he started feeling a breeze in the wrong places. "B-Boney! What's going on back there!?"

" _Errrr… Fussst keep hanfing of!"_ Boney couldn't really bark due to holding on to something with his mouth.

"BONEY! M-my pants!" Lucas started to squirm his legs around a little, making it harder for everyone else.

"Rrrgh… K-keep it down there, Lucas, it's hard to keep holding on when you're moving around like that," Duster said, trying his best to keep holding on with the weight.

Kumatora wasn't doing very well either, nearly slipping and falling. "Whoa! What the heck, Lucas?! Don't tell me you're getting scared now!"

"HELP ME!" Lucas yelled, and Kumatora looked in his direction. "N-no wait, don't look at me!"

"What is wrong with you boy?" Kumatora hissed, wishing he would stop screaming and struggling.

Lucas could feel his pants slipping down further as Boney and the winds were pushing it down more. "J-just please don't look in my direction!"

"Hmmgh…" Rope Snake was struggling to hang on with all the squirming back there.

"Lucas! You're going to make us fall!" Duster yelled over the winds.

Lucas tried his best to stay still, but once he did he immediately felt his pants slip down a lot further. "WAAAAAH!" Lucas struggled even more this time, sending everyone and even the bird cage to start rattling with him.

"What is going on back there?" Rope Snake still had enough of his mouth to speak. "It's… hard supporting… three humans and a dog… stop moving so much…!"

"Lucas! Why are you squirming around? I thought you didn't have a problem with heights! Heck you RODE the OUTSIDE of that metal box before!" Kumatora yelled.

"I-i-it's not the height!" Lucas was trying to cross his legs to get his pants to stop falling any further. "I just… have… a malfunction with a certain part of my clothes!"

"A… what?" Kumatora quickly glanced at the boy again before immediately looking away. "Oooookay then, Lucas. That was NOT on my list of things I wanted to see today."

Lucas turned beet red. "I-I _told_ you not to look! B-Boney! You're pulling my pants down!"

Boney could only whine in protest since he couldn't speak at the moment. In response, Lucas continued moving his legs around to get his pants back up, but it was hard without his hands and the extra weight of Boney latched on.

"Mmmgh…" the Rope Snake groaned again, getting harder for it to keep holding on.

"Hold on!" Duster yelled.

"I… I can't… my jaw… this is… too much…" Rope Snake shut his eyes in pain before he was forced to let go, causing the group of four to fall.

They screamed as they fell from the sky, seeing Tazmily quickly approaching. Lucas- despite falling- grabbed his pants to pull it up now that he had two hands free again and Boney let go.

"NOW WHAT!? WE'RE GOING TO GO SPLAT!" Duster yelled as they were falling.

"TRY TO AIM FOR THE WATER!" Kumatora yelled back.

Lucas looked around to see what Kumatora was talking about, seeing a body of water that wasn't too far from them. "OVER THERE!"

The entire group started to swim through the air frantically to get to the water with Duster holding onto the Rope Snake. They managed to just make it, landing in the water with a large SPLASH! The force of the impact ended up knocking them out.

* * *

The next thing Lucas heard was the sound of waves crashing. He groggily woke up, lifting his head to see that the others were groaning and slowly starting to come to their senses too. Even the Rope Snake was sprawled out near the ocean's edge.

Lucas sat up and wiped the sand off his face and looked around, realizing they were on Cerulean Beach beside Tazmily. "... Well… we made it back at least… and alive… for the most part."

" _Speak for yourself. I think a sand crab tried to kill me,"_ Boney groaned.

"I… must apologize… I had failed you all," Rope Snake spoke up, look at them in guilt. "We were lucky to have survived that, but I had almost let you all get killed."

"It's not entirely your fault, Rope Snake. We're still alive," Duster said, rubbing his head.

"Yeah. Maybe our landing would have been a _little_ nicer if Lucas here hadn't been struggling so much," Kumatora added as she wiped the sand off of herself.

Lucas blushed at that. "H-hey! You saw what was happening to me! Excuse me if I didn't want to lose my pants and my dog!"

" _I told you that you didn't need to go on a diet, Lucas, your pants barely stays on you as it is,"_ Boney grumbled.

"I didn't go on any diets! We just hadn't eaten much for the past few days!" Lucas snapped, still flustered from the experience.

"Perhaps I should just go crawl in a hole and act like a big fat worm…" Rope Snake sighed.

"No, please don't. I'm sure we will still need you, and it wasn't all your fault what happened," Duster said to the Rope Snake. "Please? You helped me get through Osohe Castle when I needed it."

Rope Snake sighed and said, "... I guess maybe I could still help you, but if I fail again you might be better off with actual rope."

"Hey you guys, did you get wiped out or something?" Someone suddenly spoke up. The group turned to see someone lying on a beach chair and sunbathing in his swimsuit. Duster picked up the Rope Snake and put him back into his pocket.

"Bronson?" Lucas asked, recognizing the man.

"You guys look beat," he said. He wasn't too far off, since they were all completely drenched and dirty from all the sand. "Now that I think about it, I haven't seen you in a while, Lucas. Except when I saw you in the Clayman Factory, but I was too busy to say hi. Maybe you should relax a little, a nap here in the sun could really revitalize you."

"Um…" Lucas looked back at his companions for an answer.

Boney was the first answer, whining as he shook his body. _"Bathing in the sun sounds really good right about now. All we've been doing for the past few days is run around everywhere."_

Lucas then shook his head, "I'm sorry but I really need to get home and see how Dad and Claus have been doing. Thanks for the offer though."

"Maybe we'll stay here and try to relax while you go on home then," Duster suggested. "I could use some sun to tell you the truth. And Kumatora here really needs to relax."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Kumatora snapped.

"You see what I mean? You think you'll be okay going home yourself for a bit?" Duster suggested.

"I guess maybe it would be better if I go myself so Dad doesn't ask too many questions," Lucas said. "Boney, are you coming with me?"

" _Of course. I want to see Claus and Flint again too!"_ Boney barked.

"Thanks. Okay then Kumatora, Duster, we'll see you two soon," Lucas said, starting to walk off in the direction of his home with Boney, leaving Duster to be interrogated by Kumatora on his earlier statement.

" _What do you think it'll be like when we get back? We haven't seen Claus or Flint in a long time,"_ Boney said.

"I don't know… I just want to meet up and see how they're doing again," Lucas responded, a little worried that Flint and Claus might be angry at him for suddenly leaving one random night.

They headed into the village, and that was when the two noticed something was off about it.

" _Um… is it just me or does this place feels… empty? I mean I see people around, but I don't smell as many or is it just me being paranoid?"_ Boney asked as they looked around.

"No… I feel it too. Since the Pigmasks moved in the town got all busy, but… now it just seems quieter for this time of day," Lucas said, frowning to himself as he looked around. Less people, less chatter, he was sure of it.

The two looked around a bit more before they decided to ask if something's been going on. There used to be three ladies in the center of town that listens to Fassad talk, but he wasn't there at the moment and there were only two ladies this time. Lucas knocked on Abbey and Abbot's door since they usually have no problem talking to him even with all their weird 'happy items' they bought over the years.

Abbey answered the door and looked rather surprised at seeing Lucas, "Oh Lucas! I haven't seen you in almost a month! What've you been up to?"

Lucas gave a small smile at her. "It's good to see you too. Um… I don't know if it's just me, but… is something going on in Tazmily? It seems emptier…"

"Oh Tazmily's just… well it felt like it's gotten smaller these days," Abbey explained. "So most people are starting to move to the big city since King P opened it up. I heard you can make it big in New Pork City, so Abbot and I are already starting to pack up so we can move there too."

"New Pork City…?" Lucas repeated in confusion. For the past year, he's heard the Pigmasks talk about what a 'city' was. In his mind, it was basically a larger town, with much bigger buildings. "I never heard about this city before… When did it open up?"

"Oh right, you disappeared before it was announced," Abbey said in realization. "Well Fassad talked about a new city that was being constructed over the years, and it just recently opened to the public. Now just about everyone wants to go there. I wouldn't be surprised if all of Tazmily ends up going there."

Lucas felt a small rush of sadness go through him when Abbey said that. Everyone in Tazmily would just be gone? _What will happen then? I like Tazmily, even after the Pigmasks remodeled it… I don't want it to become a ghost town._ "O-oh, well… good luck with your trip there, Abbey."

Lucas said goodbye to Abbey and walked back into Tazmily with Boney. They didn't walk very far before a voice called to them. "Lucas, where have you been? Have you been to the big city already?" A little girl called Alle suddenly appeared in front of him and was asking him curiously.

" _Please, Lucas barely even knows what a city is… granted neither do I but if he had been there don't you think he would've said that by now?"_ Boney barked.

"You kinda stink, have you been walking all day without taking a bath?" Alle asked as he pinched her nose.

Lucas felt a little hurt but tried not to sound offended since he knew she was just a little girl. "Oh, um, me and Boney have just been walking around to places very far from here." he explained.

"Really? Very far places?" Alle said with wonder in her eyes. "Wow! You must have went to the new pig city that opened up! Is it nice there? Does it really smell like how you smell like?"

"Alle, I never went to any city," Lucas answered with a frown. "I just went to many different places. But I have to get home because my family's going to be worried about me, okay?"

"Aww, but you have to tell me where've you been! It's been so lonely without you and Claus!" Alle whined.

" _Claus never came back either?"_ Boney whined, not liking the implication to that.

"... Maybe later, okay?" Lucas said as he and Boney walked away.

They were passing by the Bazaar Shop when Thomas suddenly came running out and stopped before he crashed into Lucas. "Oh sorry about that, Lucas! I was in a hurry to pick up some Antidotes! … Wait Lucas! I haven't seen you in a while!"

"Thomas? What's the hurry?" Lucas asked. "Isaac usually always has a stock of Antidotes…"

"Oh, you haven't heard?" Thomas sighed. "Isaac was the first to leave for New Pork City since it opened. He said something about joining the Pigmasks over there or something, so stocks for Antidotes have been low lately."

"W-what? Isaac joined the Pigmasks?" Lucas said in dismay when Thomas said this. _What if… what if I hurt him by accident?! He could have been any one of them, and I could have…_

"Yeah, but I heard he was only a recent new member and he's only working in New Pork City as they need a lot of Pigmasks to keep an eye on things there," Thomas said with a slight huff, easing Lucas's conscience. "Lucky dog. But did you hear that the Yado Inn is also closing down? Apparently Jackie and his family are planning to move and open a new Hotel or something in New Pork City."

"Really?" Lucas asked, feeling a little disheartened that so many people were moving into this New Pork City. "Um… do you know how this city is like? Why everyone keeps moving there?"

"It's really urban, much more so than here. It's a place with a lot of really tall building and technology. It's more of a place you have to see for yourself," Thomas said. "Anyways I better go and get more Antidotes, you better get home, Flint's been worried sick about you boys!"

"O-oh, right. Well thanks Thomas, it was nice seeing you again," Lucas said while Thomas ran off to restock his supply. "Okay Boney, I think we had enough sightseeing. We should head back home."

Boney barked in approval. _"Right! I hope Flint is alright after all this time, and Claus is at least there too."_

The two hurried to the outskirts of the town and walked up the small hill. There the house stood strong as it always had. Lucas noticed the sheep in the pen looked a little thin, like they hadn't been fed in a while. Lucas frowned at this, because there was a good chance Flint didn't take both Lucas and Claus going missing for so long very well, after all he _was_ pretty violent when Hinawa died.

" _I can smell fear in you, Lucas. Are you scared?"_ Boney asked, whining a bit.

"I'm just… worried how Dad will react…" Lucas sighed as he slowly knocked on the door, wondering if Flint was even home.

* * *

A few long moments passed, and Lucas was beginning to think that no one was home. But someone eventually opened the door and Lucas saw that it was Flint, dressed the same as ever.

"Oh, Lucas! You're back home!" Flint said, hugging Lucas and petting Boney with his other hand.

Lucas was rather surprised that Flint was taking this rather well. "D-Dad? Aren't you mad that I just left without telling you? I-I know I sent you that letter but… I thought you'd be really mad."

"Oh Lucas… how could I be mad at what you're doing?" Flint said with a smile on his face. "You've been doing a great thing for everyone and I'm proud of you for that."

"R-really? Thanks Dad…" Lucas said, feeling grateful that his dad wasn't taking this too hard. He quickly realized that something was amiss though and frowned. "Um… Dad? Where's Claus? Did he ever come back?"

Flint released Lucas from the hug and tilted his hat awkwardly. "Ah, Claus… he hasn't come back yet. I've been worried about him since he disappeared. But I'm… I'm sure he's fine." Flint pulled his hat over his eyes really far when he said that, almost in a dark way.

"Are you sure? M-maybe me and Boney… we can still look for him, take a small break from pulling the Needles…"

"No Lucas, it's important that you keep pulling those Needles," Flint said with a firm tone. "Don't stop until they're all pulled, okay? As for Claus… I'm sure you'll run into him again soon on your journey. That boy can never sit still sometimes… I guess he takes after me."

" _No kidding. I can't believe Claus has been gone for almost a MONTH and never came back! Where did he even go all this time? I mean sure he's the waterboy for the Pigmasks but I doubt that they would've kept him at their base for so long like that,"_ Boney said with a frown.

"... Come to think of it… we left to find Claus and the Pigmask's base before Kumatora told us about the Needle thing," Lucas said as he remembered how this crazy adventure started. "Why hasn't he ever come back? Did something happen to the base?"

"Oh. I've heard from some others that someone damaged their base pretty bad. They're probably still recovering from it now. I just hope Claus is safe…" Flint said. He looked back at Lucas and smiled again. "Well, why don't you at least come inside and rest a little? You really look like you need a shower."

"Oh, right, okay Dad," Lucas said as he and Boney walked inside. The first thing that Boney did the moment they stepped inside was roll around on the rug in front of the door.

" _Ah, finally! Home sweet home!"_ He howled in happiness..

"Boney… I need to give you a bath too," Flint said to the dog.

Boney froze at this. _"A bath? … Uhh… I could just go bathe in a hot spring!"_

"You need a _real_ bath. No dog of mine is going to run around with fleas," Flint said sternly as he picked up the whining dog. "You go and shower Lucas, I'll take care of Boney here."

Lucas wanted to laugh at this scene, he had really missed home. Now if only Claus was here… Wait… _Did Dad just understood Boney? … Nah, it couldn't be._

 _The shower was nice and it felt good being back home after all this time. I changed into some nice clean clothes… although they're an exact replica of the ones I was wearing earlier, but this time I made sure the pants were tighter on me so they won't fall off the next time Boney needs to grab onto them for whatever reason. I felt very refreshed and when I came out of the bathroom I could see Dad was just finished drying off Boney, who didn't look all that happy. I really didn't want to leave home after being gone for so long, but I knew we'd have to leave soon. Dad decided to make omelettes for us before we hit the road… well for me actually, Boney got kibble, but he had never been so happy eating regular dog food._

Lucas just finished the last bite of his omelette before smiling at Flint. "Thanks Dad, that was almost as good as the omelettes we ate on our birthday."

" _Hey, can we bring some of this on the go?"_ Boney asked as he started to pull on an entire bag of kibble.

"I don't think I can carry all of that, Boney," Lucas huffed.

Flint chuckled at the two of them. "It's nice to see that you two enjoy it. It's the least I can do since you've been working so hard Lucas. Just remember that there are still a lot of people supporting you as you pull the Needles."

"Thanks Dad." Lucas smiled to him before he gave a small concerned frown. "But what about the Pigmasks? They really seem to highly disagree with the whole Needle pulling. And the Masked Ma- I mean their Commander is really against it. I don't know why but… whenever I had to fight him I felt like I was hurting myself in a way…"

" _There was also a very faint but familiar smell to that Masked Man too, but I can't put my paw on it,"_ Boney added, despite Flint not understanding him.

"Really? Well uh… that's strange. But it… it must be nothing. You just keep doing what you're doing and pull those Needles…" Flint said. Lucas thought he looked preoccupied, but just ignored it.

"Yeah, I guess so. I really hope that pulling the Needles really will help fix the world," Lucas said absentmindedly. "But sometimes I wonder why the Pigmasks are going to such length to stop it…"

"They just don't understand and are trying foolishly to fix everything themselves. But it's beyond human control, they need to wake up and realize that," Flint grumbled in irritation.

"What about the renegades? They seem to be against the Pigmasks but why are they dressed like them? Why go through the trouble of mimicking the enemy?" Lucas asked in confusion.

"I don't know everything, but…" Flint began to say. "I heard that it's because the Pigmasks have advanced technology and getting them would've been impossible had the renegades not tried to copy their every detail."

" _Ugh, it doesn't matter. They're both dangerous and thus they're both our enemies and let's leave it at that,"_ Boney groaned, not wanting to have to care enough that they needed to distinguish who's the real Pigmask and who's the imposter.

"I guess, Boney." Lucas said, these thoughts starting to occupy his own mind. He had only fought with the renegades when they invaded Tazmily, but if there was really a group against the Pigmasks, wouldn't that make them Lucas's ally? _That black Pigmask wanted to help me pull the Needle… I wonder why they revolted against the Pigmasks and came to help me?_

"Just know Lucas… that you have more people than you think helping you against that blinded army." Flint said gently to his son. "And if they had poisoned Claus's mind with their ideals, then I'm counting on you to save him from them." Flint sounded very serious there, almost as if he truly believed that Claus was in danger from the Pigmasks.

"You really think Claus might have been swayed by them? W-well… if you say so Dad, then I'll try my best." Lucas said nervously, not liking the sound of what might have become of his slightly older twin brother.

"Lucas… you said your brother never had PSI, right?" Flint suddenly asked him.

"Hmm? Well he never had the PSI aura… but I think he may have showed potential possibly…" Lucas was hesitant on the answer since he wasn't really sure himself. "Why?"

"... Just wondering… If Claus were to somehow suddenly gain PSI… maybe the Pigmasks decided to brainwash him into doing their bidding. He would make a valuable asset to them after all, especially if he… has PK Love like you do." Flint said darkly.

"Claus? With PK Love?" Lucas asked, frowning to himself. _Would that be true? I mean… I always thought Claus could have had PSI, even if Kumatora didn't see anything… but if the Pigmasks really did do something like that, wouldn't I have seen him? That Masked Man is the only one I know who can use PK Love…_

"I'm not saying it's a fact, Lucas, but we can't ignore the possibility," Flint said with a lighter tone after seeing his son's worried face. "Now why don't you-"

Suddenly someone knocked on the door. Lucas blinked, wondering if it was Duster and Kumatora. Flint went over and answered it, only to reveal a familiar short doctor who gave Claus his mechanical arm and synthetic eye.

"Ah good, you're all here," Dr. Andonuts said. "We are requesting help from any able person to move the Pigmasks onto the train to take them to New Pork City's hospital. The hospital here isn't big enough to take them all in, we have too many injured and not enough hands to help."

Lucas quickly hurried up to Dr. Andonuts, "I-is Claus among them? Is he alright? What happened?"

"The base was attacked by the renegades… and it's in ruins now. We are currently trying to help patch up the survivors but we need help to transfer them all." Dr. Andonuts answered. "As for your brother… I honestly don't know what happened to him. We lost his signal when he went out into the ocean somewhere."

"The ocean? W-why was he there?" Lucas asked in concern, wondering what he was doing all the way out there.

"When he heard about the Needles being pulled and what happened at the base, he felt that he had to shoulder the responsibility himself and went out to sea to get to Tanetane Island, but his signal was suddenly lost. He might've been attacked out there I fear." Dr. Andonuts said darkly.

"N-no!" Lucas cried out. "Um… I can save him, along with the others, m-maybe if we just hurry to that island… Maybe he's just washed up there and needs someone to help him."

"You let a 13 year old boy go out into the ocean on his OWN!?" Flint practically screamed at the short doctor. "You Pigmasks are a _disgrace_ if you just let him go out like that!"

"Sir, it was out of my control. I am only a doctor and I need help," Dr. Andonuts quickly said.

Flint growled before he turned to Lucas and Boney, "I'll go help those mindless Pigmasks, you get Kumatora and Duster and find Claus! Just don't die out there, Lucas, I don't want both of my sons to be dead!"

"O-okay Dad! C'mon Boney, we have to get back to Kumatora and Duster," Lucas said urgently as he ran out of the house. Boney whimpered and took one last look at the bag of dog food.

" _Goodbye, sweet sweet kibble… I'm coming, Lucas!_ " Boney ran out of the house, following Lucas as Flint was left to help Dr. Andonuts, even though the father really did not want to.

* * *

The two of them ran back to the beach, hoping Kumatora and Duster hadn't left there yet. Thankfully they saw them relaxing on the beach chairs beside Bronson. It was very strange seeing Kumatora looking all relaxed like that.

"Wow… you're right Duster… it really does feel nice to just kick back and relax and not have to worry about the world resting on your shoulders…" Kumatora said in a relaxed tone that sounded alien to those who knew her.

" _How in all of Nowhere Islands was Duster able to get Kumatora to relax like that?"_ Boney said in shock at the scene before them.

Kumatora's eye twitched but she tried to stay relaxed. "Shut up Boney, I'm trying to do something different here and your sass is the last thing I need."

" _Oh I'M the sassy one? Let me tell you little miss Princess-!"_ Boney began growling as Lucas quickly shut his muzzle up.

"Now's not the time Boney!" Lucas glared at him before speaking up. "Kumatora, Duster, we need to swim to Tanetane Island right now!"

"What's the hurry, Lucas?" Duster frowned.

"Yeah, for once I'd say just stop and smell the roses… relax and let it all go…" Kumatora said, her tone sounding relaxed again.

"Claus! Claus is out there drowning somewhere! We have to save him!" Lucas quickly shouted.

"WHAT!?" Kumatora and Duster both quickly jolted up from that.

"Then what are we sitting around for!? We've got a kid to save!" Kumatora's impatientness returned rather quickly, but the situation was rather dire.

"Wait, what are we going to do? Just dive into the ocean and _swim_ there!?" Duster didn't like that idea very much.

"Um, w-well…" Lucas said, not really having a plan himself now that he thought about it. "Apparently Claus was going to Tanetane Island. Maybe if we swim there…"

"Swim!? Screw that, we don't have enough time for that!" Kumatora said, grabbing all of them. "We're gonna teleport there!"

" _W-w-w-wait a second! They said Claus disappeared in the OCEAN! Will that even do us any good to just teleport there? Have you even been there before?"_ Boney whined, _really_ not wanting to have to experience the teleportation backlash a second time.

Kumatora grumbled at the dog's complaint. "Mixolydia lives there, so I should be able to if I try. And didn't Lucas just say he was on his way to Tanetane anyways? With any luck he's probably close to the island and we can get him from there. Now hold on!"

Lucas, Duster and Boney didn't even have time to protest anymore because Kumatora grabbed their arms and was already running, Boney quickly grabbed onto Lucas's pants to make sure he didn't get left behind. There was that loud ringing sound in Lucas's head as they ran faster and faster across the beach as everything began to blur and his body dematerialized. This second experience wasn't as scary as the first since he knew this would happen now, but it was still just as sickening to watch his body dissolve like that. After about a few seconds, their bodies began to re-materialize and they slowed down. They found themselves on the beach of a forest.


	31. Chapter 31: Tanetane Shrooms (Lucas)

**DarkFoxKit: *Just took out a huge cake from the oven* Ooh, that looks good. Wait… is that… a mushroom? *Is glaring at the purple mushroom at the top of the cake* I thought I didn't put any mushrooms in the ingredients!**

 **Donfyre: *walks into the kitchen, yawning* Something smells good in here… Oh! Fox? Did you bake that? *looks at the cake with stars in his eyes* It looks delicious! … But what's that at the top? ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Fyre! This cake… is uh… just a practice cake for a bakery job sale… thing… yeah… but I don't know where that mushroom came from! It- … did it just move?**

 **Donfyre: Oh, it's not for us? *pouts* Maybe your job has this secret ingredient they don't tell you about, and it's a mushroom! *is poking the mushroom with my tail* There's something familiar about this mushroom though…**

 **DarkFoxKit: *gasp* DON'T TOUCH IT!**

 ***The mushroom came to life and bit Fyre's tail***

 **DarkFoxKit: It's a Shroob! A SHROOB! GET IT OUT OF HERE! DX**

 **Donfyre: WAAAAH! DX Someone call the Mario Bros.! It's hurting meeeee! *is running around the kitchen with the Shroob still latched on, crashing and breaking lots of dinnerware***

 **DarkFoxKit: *tackles Fyre down and the Shroob went flying out the window. We looked out the window to see the entire sky filled with Shroob UFOs* O.O' … Maybe we better hide and get to the reviews before something happens to us.**

 ***the Shroobs were all cackling with their ray guns pointed at the two***

 **Donfyre: *jumps onto Fox's back* Ruuuuuuun!**

 ***Later… the two authors were somewhere in the basement***

 **DarkFoxKit: *pants* O-okay… we… uh… we should record what we should say to our viewers before those alien mushrooms find us… w-who's first?**

 **Donfyre: R-right… and I was looking forward to something nice to eat. *pouts, hearing the Shroobs demolishing the floor above us***

 **DarkFoxKit: *gulps* … Okay, let's do this.**

* * *

 **Shimo no ko: 2016 seems to be a good year for gamers of Nintendo. :3 Let's hope we get something from Mother 3. And well, Fassad never really saw any reason to tell Claus about New Pork City, either that or he wanted to surprise him, take your pick. ^^' What about Flint? He's been home all this time. :P And uh… nice relationship you have with your brother…? ^^' I'm an only child.**

 **Donfyre: I have a younger sister. Am I the only person who actually has a nice relationship with my sibling? ^^;**

 **Bloxxerstudios1: Oh, hey Bloxxy. XP Or… Bloxxer, now is it? Anyways, I think you'll like this next chapter. At least... Foxy here loved writing the chapter.**

 **DarkFoxKit: I'll admit; I had a loooot of fun with this chapter and its… Claus counterpart chapter.**

 **CalmTheHydreigon: Why does a dragon have a cat? Why was it in our house? Oh and since it's _your_ cat, would you so kindly pay for the damages and medical bills it caused us? Thanks.**

 **Donfyre: Yeeaah, Fox is still annoyed about what is apparently _your_ cat. That, and it'd be nice if something about the actual story was mentioned too. ^^;**

 **CalculusNova: S-sorry about that, I've never been the best with… being able to prevent characters from drawing conclusions even if it's staring at them in the face. Probably 'cause I have an impatient personality myself, and sometimes jump to conclusions even if they aren't correct. I think I made Lucas especially a bit too ignorant with that. ^^;**

 **Yeah, we're getting closer and closer to the end, and things are really building up. You're wondering how similar our ending will be to the game's? Weeeell… Fox isn't exactly stable when it comes to talking about the ending of Mother 3-**

 **DarkFoxKit: EXCUSE me! I am just fine with the ending! ….. That ending… why… WHY did they have to end it like THAT!? I get that they wanted the players to interpret what happens at the end, but seriously!? After all that crud Lucas had to go through, and what we had to go through with the game breaking our hearts along the way, THIS is the unsatisfying ending we get? We don't even get to see the new world that the Dragon apparently made after it was destroying the old world! Nooooo, instead we get a black screen with characters saying everyone's okay and blah, blah, blah! For all we know, they could be DEAD and in the AFTERLIFE and not even realize it yet! What was the new world like? Did technology just ceased to exist? Did all the Pigmasks die including the villagers like Isaac who joined with them? What happened after that? We don't know and most likely never will. This may seem petty, but I can't stand open endings like that! Especially if there's never going to be a sequel! *pants* … Sorry, I must've lost myself in that rant again… the ending of Mother 3 just… it sets me off. ^^' … Where'd Fyre go?**

 **Donfyre: *is hiding behind a couch and pokes his head up* Oh? Are you finally finished? *looks up at Fox's speech* Wow, that is one big block of text. Anyways, uh… yeah. This is what happens when Fox is set off about the game's ending. ^^; I usually just hide somewhere until she's finished. I think I'm the only person I know who actually liked that ambiguous ending.**

 **DarkFoxKit: I'm sure there's a lot of people there who likes the ending. I've seen plenty of comments on Youtube about it, there were more who liked it than those who disliked it. And anyways, to answer on your last message about 'everything happens for no reason' in my story… I don't really get what you mean by that. Things just happen in life or in stories, even if you can't find a good reason for it. Which is why I can understand why some people do like the ending of Mother 3 even if I don't.**

 **Donfyre: I can't really tell what you mean about that last part either. But, uh… m-moving on! We spent a whole page on Google Docs on this review… ^^;**

 **Orangeflight of ShadowClan: That's fine if you reviewed late. XP**

 **Claus is going through a lot of stress. ^^; Fox wrote that "mysterious character", and it still creeps me out. Anyways, you just keep theorizing about what you believe the shady character is doing. XP And "Neko Atsume"? … Welp, I'm getting it on my phone now. And yay for the birdie machine! :D**

 **DarkFoxKit: The Lucas and Boney bit came from that scene in Mother 3 where Lucas's pants was down while Boney grabbed it. And go Rope Snake! :D Yeah, Tazmily was beautifully well done. It was full of life and then everyone began to leave, moving onto 'bigger and better' things. I think the same could easily be said with the best of friends too most of the time. Kids can be cruel since they often don't know about consequences, and they'll most likely say whatever comes to mind. And Flint… he's been home all day, what're you talking about? :P And uh… well this chapter isn't about Claus, it's still Lucas. ^^' Believe it or not, this was actually our longest chapter ever so far, even when split it had the same length of one our longer full chapters. Anyways, it was good to hear from you again Orange! :D**

* * *

 ***The floor above trembled***

 **DarkFoxKit: … Are those Shroobs still looking for us?**

 **Donfyre: Uhhh…. You can go find out if you want. ^^; If they find us, I blame your big rant earlier!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Hey! That wasn't-**

 ***The floor crashed and the purple mushroom alien people were on top of us***

 **DarkFoxKit & Donfyre: AAAAH-! *static***

 **Shroob: *reactivates the camera* $ &%#$! (Review or else they die!)**

* * *

 **Chapter 31: TaneTane Shrooms (Lucas)**

"Tch… guess my aim was off this time." Kumatora grumbled as the three fell on their knees from the teleportation backlash.

" _I… I shouldn't… have eaten… so much kibble…"_ Boney groaned as he threw them all back up.

 _There goes my omelettes…_ Lucas groaned, not being able to hold down his own lunch either.

Duster didn't throw up anything, mostly because he didn't eat before they left, but he was just as sick.

Kumatora tapped her foot as she waited for them to recover from the backlash. "Come on, we don't have time to dolly too long."

When they recovered enough to stand again, Boney was about to bark at Kumatora when a smell cut him off. The dog quickly ran to a nearby tree that had a branch just over the ocean. There was a piece of cloth on it.

" _This smell… this smells like Claus's smell… but there's some stuff mixed in with it. A lot of salt from the ocean, but… chemicals too? I wonder what was in the ocean…?"_ Boney said as he sniffed the cloth.

"Boney?" Lucas called before he walked over to him, still feeling a little weak. "What did you find?" He picked up the cloth that he was sniffing at.

" _It smells like Claus, but there's a bunch other stuff mixed in with it too,"_ Boney explained.

"This is from Claus?" Lucas asked. "It's black. Maybe it's something the Pigmasks made him wear…"

"What?" Duster looked over and said, "Black? The Pigmasks don't wear black do they? Not any other Pigmask than that one we saw back at the volcano… but I doubt their clothes are that easy to rip."

"Doesn't the Masked Man wear a black coat?" Kumatora asked. "You don't suppose he could've taken Claus do you? I mean he can fly so I wouldn't be surprised."

" _But that doesn't make any sense, why would the Masked Man kidnap Claus? Isn't he on their side to a degree?"_ Boney asked, not sure what to make of this.

"Well these Pigsnots are evil geniuses when they want to be," Kumatora grumbled. "Maybe he kidnapped Claus to get to Lucas here."

"Well what should we do now?" Duster asked.

Lucas frowned as he said, "We should still look around here, Claus might still be here. We don't know what happened…"

"Hopefully he's actually _here_ and not drowning somewhere in the middle of the ocean…" Kumatora muttered as she walked off to investigate the island herself. Boney whimpered at that but didn't say anything.

Duster was investigating ahead as well, being trained as a thief he wanted to scout ahead to see if they could find anything.

Lucas and Boney were looking in the area together trying to see if Claus was nearby. Boney grumbled and whined.

"What's wrong, boy?" Lucas asked, feeling concerned for his friend.

" _I'm just really hungry… we hadn't eaten in days and Kumatora just made us eject the only food we've eaten recently,"_ Boney whimpered.

As if on cue, Lucas's stomach growled and he frowned. They were rather low on food and if they don't eat soon, he and Kumatora wouldn't be able to use PSI anymore. "Yeah… me too… but I don't think there's anything edible nearby…"

" _We're on a random island that nobody except for maybe that one Magypsy lives in. There has to be SOMETHING,"_ Boney said, stopping his search for Claus to search for food instead.

Lucas was a little unsure about stopping their search temporarily, but he figured that one couldn't do much on an empty stomach. While Kumatora and Duster were still searching, he followed Boney to one end of the beach, near the outskirts of a forest leading deeper into the island.

"Did you find anything, Boney?" Lucas asked, seeing him sniffing closely near the trees and eventually stopping at a group of mushrooms.

" _I found some mushrooms but they smell weird. I don't know if it's safe to eat them,"_ Boney said as he whined a little bit.

"Mushrooms?" Lucas looked at the pile of purple mushrooms. He noticed a few stems that looked half or almost fully eaten scattered on the ground, indicating something has been eating the mushrooms recently. "Well… it kinda looks like something ate some of these mushrooms already. Maybe it's safe…"

" _If you say so… You can have those mushrooms, I'll see if there's something that doesn't look so gross,"_ Boney said, sniffing more along the trees.

Lucas picked up one of the mushrooms. "Something's eaten some of them already, so they should be safe. And there doesn't seem to be anything _else_ to eat," He looked over at Boney, who was still sniffing around but wasn't finding anything. Shrugging his shoulders, Lucas took a bite into the mushroom.

He slowly chewed it - there wasn't that much flavor to it - before he swallowed. The boy waited for a few seconds and didn't feel anything out of place, so he decided to chance another bite. After a few more bites, the mushroom started tasting pretty good. Lucas picked up another mushroom and started munching on it at a faster pace than the first one.

Lucas started feeling weird, there was an odd sensation swimming around his head. Still, he kept eating the mushrooms to try and sate his hunger. The boy wasn't sure how much he ate, but he stopped eventually when he felt like the entire world was starting to spin. "Ugh… what's happening…?"

Everything began flashing in psychedelic colors, almost as if someone pulled another Needle, but there weren't any tremors or heartbeats, just the weird colors flashing. Lucas had to close his eyes to try and get it to stop, his head began to pound a bit and he rubbed the temples of his head to get it to calm down.

* * *

When he opened his eyes again, everything was still there, flashing lights with every color not being the way it should be. The trees were pink, the branches were green, the ground was purple, and the sky was even a bright orange. He looked at the ocean and it… looked hot pink, if it was red it would look like an ocean of blood… now there's a scary thought.

Lucas stood up and smiled, he felt just dandy, a lot better than he have felt in a long time. Maybe the colors will return to normal after this… spell he's under wears off, Lucas could live with weird, neon colors for a day or two.

The boy decided to continue his search for Claus and maybe try to get Boney to try the mushrooms, but when he walked a little further ahead he saw someone he hadn't expected to see. "... Dad?"

"Oh Lucas, it's you," Lucas didn't know how, but his dad was standing there, a little bit into the forest. "It's so nice to see you again."

"Um… what are you doing way out here in Tanetane Island?" Lucas asked. "Did you come looking for Claus too?"

"Claus? Isn't he lost here?" His father said. Strangely, he wasn't moving from that spot, standing there with only his hands moving as he spoke. "But now you're lost too. Come with me, Lucas. We can go home with Claus and not be lost anymore."

"What? But I'm not lost, I came here with my friends to find Claus," Lucas said, confused why his dad was saying that. "But since you're here why don't we look for Claus together?" The boy came closer to Flint.

Flint suddenly smacked him away, surprising and stunning Lucas. Flint suddenly began to give a very creepy smile as his eyes lit up in glee. "Come on Lucas, it's dinner time. Hinawa's waiting."

"W-what? Mom's… she's not coming back, Dad! Is that what this is about?" Lucas asked, feeling scared and weary now.

"Hinawa's not coming back? Why not? What did you do to her? It's almost dinner time," Flint suddenly said before he shot out some dust at Lucas.

Lucas coughed at the dust spread in his face and felt like he was suffocating from it. "D-Dad stop… you're hurting me…"

"Daddy's going to beat you. Come here Lucas, Daddy's going to beat you up," Flint said with such glee that it honestly terrified Lucas to the core.

" _Lucas!"_ Lucas heard a voice, and saw… a little alligator? It ran forward and pummeled Flint. Lucas wanted to help his dad, but when the alligator attacked him he seemed to shift a little, and the eerily-smiling Flint changed into a large, wrinkled mushroom.

"D-Dad?" Lucas said in fear as he watched the alligator continue to bite and pummel at the mushroom that used to be Flint just earlier. The alligator was ruthless and never stopped tearing the wrinkled mushroom 'Flint' apart, pulling out what could be his skin as the mushroom Flint slowly began to stop moving. The alligator eventually won out, and the mushroom lay in shreds on the purple ground.

" _Lucas! Are you alright?"_ The alligator came running over to Lucas next with… its tail wagging? The boy scrambled backwards.

"G-get away from me!" Lucas yelled, not wanting to be torn to shreds by this vicious little alligator.

The alligator looked hurt from Lucas's reaction. _"Lucas? What's wrong?"_

Lucas's hand spark dangerously as he pointed it at the alligator. "Stay back! Or I won't hesitate to use my PSI on you!"

The alligator made a noise that Lucas thought sounded like a dog's whimper. _"Lucas, I'm not going to hurt you! What's going on, did something happen?"_ The alligator slowly walked over to Lucas even with his hand sparking.

"I saw what you did with Dad back there! I'm not going to turn my back and let you tear me to shreds!" Lucas snapped, still holding his sparking hand at the creature. "I said STAY BACK! Don't move!"

The alligator stopped and sat down, giving a dog's whine. _"Lucas… why are you saying that to me? Don't you recognize me?"_

"No, I don't remember seeing any alligators out here," Lucas said as he slowly walked backwards, keeping a wary eye on the little alligator that could jump him at any moment.

" _Alligator?"_ It replied, sounding shocked. _"I'm not an alligator, Lucas! I'm Boney! Don't you see that?"_

"..." Lucas misinterpreted that. "YOU ATE MY DOG!?" The boy quickly ran in the opposite direction, crying his eyes out that he lost his father and his dog now too.

" _LUCAS! WAIT!"_

Lucas ran deeper into the pink filled forest, trying to get away from the crazy alligator, but it kept following him. The boy eventually had to stop because he saw Wess up ahead.

"O-old man Wess?" Lucas shivered a bit before feeling relieved to see a familiar face. "H-hey, watch out for a vicious alligator, it tore up my dad and turned him into some wrinkly mushroom creature!"

"Oh, it's you Lucas," Wess said, sounding almost tired. "A vicious alligator you say? Well, this master thief should have no problem with that. Speaking of which… have you seen Duster? I want to tell him that I'm sorry for everything I've done… Here, come with me Lucas. You can show me Duster and I can tell him everything."

Wess held out his hand to Lucas, and Lucas made to take his hand… but when he did, his hand went right through Wess's. The boy looked up to see Wess flickering and shifting from existence. "Oh someone pulled my Needle~ Yes I'm afraid I have to go now Lucas. Tell Duster I love him~ And don't I look beautiful as I slowly disappear?" Wess sounded like a Magypsy just before his body disappeared.

Lucas stood there, not sure what just happened. He didn't realize something was beside him until he felt it tugging at his shirt. Looking down to see what's tugging him, Lucas screamed when he saw it was that alligator again, using its mouth to tug at his shirt.

"AAHHH! LET GO!" Lucas screamed as he pushed the alligator away.

The alligator started to bark at him. _"Lucas, it's me, Boney! Why are you so scared of me? You were just talking and holding your hand out to nothing! Did something happen?"_

Lucas ran away from the alligator without answering it, the boy figured it must be some kind of alligator-dog chimera he's never seen before and he didn't want to deal with it right now. _I've got to find Kumatora and Duster, this place is dangerous!_

Lucas yelped as he almost ran over Salsa the monkey, he was shocked to see that monkey here of all places, but what was even weirder was that his own Grandfather Alec was there too. Alec seem to be teaching Salsa some tricks… on a deserted island.

"... Grandpa? Why are you here? … And why is Salsa here?" Lucas had no idea what was even going on anymore.

"Whoooo aaaaare yoyyyyoooyou?" Alec's voice was distorted.

Salsa smiled as he said in human language, "He said he doesn't know you I'm afraid. I have to translate for him sometimes."

"... Y-you can talk?" Lucas was sure that was human language he heard.

"Of course I can talk. I can talk all day about how it was all your fault that I was captured and became Fassad's little pet for so long. It's all Lucas's fault. All Lucas's fault. All Lucas's fault. All Lucas's fault," Salsa repeated before he started smiling very wide. "ALL YOUR FAULT!" He screeched as he lunged at Lucas suddenly.

Lucas yelped as he raised his arms to defend himself, but Salsa was really strong for such a tiny monkey, he felt like he was just tackled by a really large and heavy creature as he was sent back to a pink tree. "Ugh… ow…"

He looked back to see Salsa and Alec slowly stumble over to him, before he saw that same alligator come in once again and growled before it bit at the two of them.

"WAAAH!" Lucas yelled as he quickly got up and started to back away.

Salsa raised an arm and whacked the alligator, sending it sprawling back.

" _Ow! T-too much… Lucas, we have to go!"_ The alligator barked at Lucas before grabbing his sleeve and running away from Salsa and Alec.

"W-wait, let go of me!" Lucas protested, trying to run in the opposite direction as the alligator half-pulled half-dragged him across the forest.

* * *

The little alligator didn't stop until they were a safe distance away from the eerie-smiling Salsa and Alec, and they stopped near what appeared to be a really gorgeous looking hot spring. The place had beautiful flowers growing on the side of it, he could see Fassad and, strangely enough, Ionia relaxing in there while drinking some kind of juice.

Lucas held on to his arm as that was where the alligator bit and dragged him by. The boy shut his eyes as if waiting for it to try and finish him off. "... What are you waiting for? Just chew me to bits and eat me up."

The alligator whimpered again, pawing one of its front legs at Lucas's arm. _"Lucas… why don't you recognize me? You're acting really weird… was it those mushrooms you ate?"_

"Why do you keep talking to me?" Lucas demanded. "Drop the friendly act already! I know you fully intend on killing me! Everyone else is!"

" _I might still be hungry, but I'm not going to hurt you, Lucas!"_ The alligator said, with both of its legs now standing on Lucas's leg. Lucas thought that it felt furry for some reason. _"Let's go back to Kumatora and Duster. They might know something."_ The alligator grabbed Lucas's sleeve with its mouth and started to pull him again.

Lucas jerk back his hand and looked at the alligator. _It MUST be some kind of dog alligator chimera, it acts so much like a dog! … But why does it seem to know me? And it knew Kumatora and Duster too…_

"Who are you? How do you know so much about me?" Lucas demanded.

" _Lucas! I've been trying to tell you; I'm Boney! Your dog Boney! I didn't eat him and I didn't tear him to shreds, okay? I. AM._ BONEY _!"_ The alligator all but barked in his face.

"... B-Boney?" Lucas frowned before he put a cautious hand over the alligator's -who claims to be Boney- head, feeling soft fur instead of cold scales. 'Boney' gave a small whine before licking his hand, scaring Lucas that he was going to bite him. But Lucas remembered Boney always licked a child's hand to show he's friendly to the scared child. "... It… it _is_ you, right? W-why do you look like an alligator?"

" _Do I really still look like that to you?"_ The alligator said with a whine. _"Maybe it's those mushrooms you ate or something… We should get you back to the beach, and maybe tell the two about the mushrooms you ate. After seeing you I can't imagine just how much worse little miss Princess is going to be if she eats those mushrooms."_

"Mushrooms? Oh they're really good Boney, I don't feel so hungry anymore!" Lucas smiled as if forgetting that he was scared of the alligator/Boney. "You should try it. And this island just made all these funny colors here! Look at the trees, they're all _pink_! Have you ever seen a pink tree before? And the sky is all orange, like it's the sunset! And look at that hot spring! It's the prettiest one I've seen!" Lucas was about to take a dip in the hot spring when Boney the alligator quickly grabbed his pants and pulled him away from it.

" _Uhhh… Lucas… I really think we should go back to the beach. You don't sound too good,"_ Boney said worriedly.

"What…?" Lucas said, looking at him in confusion and wondering why he wouldn't let him in this beautiful looking hot spring. "But… I feel just dandy, Boney! Those mushrooms are pretty good for you. Maybe it's the island itself and it's doing something weird to everything."

Boney was still pulling Lucas away from the hot spring, seeing that the boy was still trying to take a dip inside. _"Lucas, I don't think you're feeling alright… Come on, can we just get back to the beach now?"_

"But I want to relax in this gorgeous hot springs first!" Lucas whined.

" _Just trust me, you don't. It's sludge, probably toxic, so please don't."_ Boney began pushing Lucas, trying to get him to go.

Lucas sighed before walking away from the hot spring, it didn't look anything like sludge to him, but he still headed back out into the forest. They didn't see Salsa or Alec anymore, but they saw more people from the village walking around.

"Hey, they lied! They didn't move to New Pork City, they came here to Tanetane Island!" Lucas yelled, pointing at the villagers that had left Tazmily.

" _Be quiet, Lucas! You might attract them,"_ Boney hissed, pulling Lucas away from them hurriedly. _"Just what are you seeing? Actually… I don't think I want to know. Let's just keep going."_

"Hey, but I want to talk with some of them! It's rude to just keep walking away," Lucas reasoned, still trying to walk over to the villagers.

" _Lucas, remember how everyone attacked you when you tried to talk to them? I think we should avoid them right now,"_ Boney reasoned back.

Lucas frowned, he really wanted to talk to some of them and question why they left Tazmily just to come here, but maybe there really is something wrong with them. "Maybe this island has a curse and makes people go crazy!"

" _... Yeah… I feel like I'm talking to one of them right now,"_ Boney grumbled.

* * *

The two were getting close to the beach, but Lucas saw a familiar ginger hair moving in the trees. Boney didn't realize Lucas had stopped following him and kept going. Lucas kept staring at the ginger hair as it kept moving away.

"Claus?" He quickly followed it, going back into the forest.

Lucas hurried after whom he believed to be Claus, not taking his eyes off for a second in fear that he would lose his brother again if he lost sight of him. "Claus! Wait up!"

Lucas wasn't sure how long he's been running, but by now the pink trees and purple grass were an eyesore, he's starting to miss the green and brown. The boy stopped running as he panted, he felt like he's been attacked a few times by some of the villagers, but he ignored them as he put up a shield around himself. Lucas climbed up a purple vine as it lead up a cliff.

"Claus! Please stop!" Lucas called.

Finally, the ginger hair stopped moving and waited. Lucas smiled as he climbed to the top of the cliff, and he smiled happily when he saw it was indeed Claus.

"Lucas?" Claus said, turning around to Lucas and smiling at him. "Lucas, it's you! It's so nice to see you!"

Lucas smiled back at him, taking a step towards him. "We finally found you! We were looking all over for you since you disappeared that night. And then we heard you were over here and came looking… and now we found you."

Claus walked closer towards Lucas before stopping in front of him. "What were you doing, Lucas? Were you playing adventure without me? I want to join, could I join, Lucas? I'll follow right behind you!"

Lucas smiled in relief, his chest feeling less tense as he nodded his head. "Of course you can come with me, Claus. We're waiting for you back at the beach. I'll lead the way." The blond-haired boy turned around went back towards the vine leading down the cliff, looking back to see if Claus was following.

Claus did follow him, but he suddenly reached out and grabbed Lucas's arm before pulling it to his chest. "Can you feel my heart Lucas? See how it's beating in and out like that? It's me, Claus. Do you remember me, Lucas? I'm Claus."

Lucas was a little surprised at Claus's sudden action, but felt his chest anyways, feeling the heartbeat inside. It sounded a little quicker than normal, but it was still a heartbeat.

"Yes, I feel it Claus," he said, smiling at Claus again.

Claus was giving him a creepy smile, but he didn't mind it too much… at first. "Lucas… everyone's waiting for you. Everyone's waiting to beat you up and spit in your face. Everyone's waiting to make your life a living hell."

Lucas began to frown at that before Claus said, "Who is 'everyone'? Everyone you love!" Suddenly Claus's hand came up at Lucas's face and shot out fire at him.

"OW OW! C-Claus! Why did you-!?" Lucas said, scrambling backwards and nearly falling off the cliff he just climbed up. He regained his balance and looked back at Claus with a mixed look of sadness and betrayal. "W-why did you do that, Claus? Why did you hurt me?"

Claus's smile got wider before he answered, "Why? Why why why why? Because I hate you, Lucas. You always did everything before me. I was supposed to be the older twin, and yet you got everything! You got PSI, you got to know the Princess of the former Osohe Castle, you got to go on an adventure to save the world. And what do I get? Just being covered in your ever growing shadow! It's me Claus. Lucas Lucas Lucas, you're always more… you're more… let's switch places." He shot out fire at Lucas again.

"Wah!" Lucas managed to jump out of the way this time, still getting a little burned in the process. He used a small Lifeup on himself before looking back at Claus. "You really felt that way? I-I'm sorry Claus, I didn't know… But that doesn't mean you have to fight me! We can still go back and have fun together…"

"There's nothing to go back to, Lucas. Nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing," Claus repeated, the creepy smile never leaving his face. "Everyone's leaving Tazmily forever. They hate you Lucas, everyone hates you, it's all your fault, Lucas. A boy named Lucas learned bad magic. A boy named Lucas is crying. A boy named Lucas is causing trouble. A boy named Lucas is bullying the animals."

All these words Claus kept saying hurt worse than the actual fire or tackle he did to Lucas. Lucas felt like his own heart was breaking. "C-Claus…" He already started to feel tears welling up from what he was saying, and it was hard for him to hold them back. He saw Claus throw more fire at him and Lucas only just managed to stumble out of the way, his vision getting blurry from his dampening eyes.

"If you survive I would be ashamed of you forever. So DIE!" Claus shouted as he was about to launch himself at Lucas again before ice shards suddenly stabbed right through his body.

Lucas's eyes widen in horror as the ice shards pierced Claus's body, and Claus himself fell over the cliff, most likely dead. "N-no… C-Claus…"

* * *

"Lucas, what are you doing here?!" Lucas looked over to see a tall, fierce-looking monster standing on two legs, but with scales and really sharp teeth, almost like a dragon. "You nearly got yourself killed!"

Lucas scrambled backwards from the bipedal dragon. Right behind the dragon another monster came climbing onto the cliff. It looked almost like an ogre to Lucas. "Oh good, we finally found you Lucas,, for a minute there I thought we lost you," it said in relief.

Have these two been stalking him? Lucas was desperately looking for an escape route from these two powerful looking monsters, but they were over the vine that lead the safest way down the cliff. The two approached him and he quickly went into defense mode.

"Counter!" Lucas quickly put up a golden shield around him before pointing his hand at them. "PK Love!" it was the alpha stage, but it was enough to cause a lot of damage to the two as it exploded hexagonally in their faces. He grab onto his bat, ready to battle and defend himself if he had to against these monsters that killed Claus.

"Ow! W-what was that for, Lucas?!" the dragon like monster demanded as it fell onto the floor before turning to the ogre beside it. "Do something!"

Just as Lucas was about to close in on them and swing his bat, the ogre held up a small baby, which made an annoying, high-pitched scream that stopped Lucas right in his tracks. He turned around and covered his ears to get that annoying sound out of his head. The moment he turned around though, he felt something grab him from behind in a bear hug.

"I got him! Now put that annoying thing away!"

"Let me go!" Lucas yelled as he grabbed the dragon's arm and try to pry it off him. He released a small bit of PK Love's energy around his body to force it off him. The boy then turn to swing his bat at the dragon, but it was fast and managed to dodge him.

"Gah, I don't want to hurt the kid! Come on, we've got to do something else, now!" The dragon demanded, looking over at the ogre. Lucas went to take another swing at the dragon before he suddenly felt something push both his arms and his legs to the ground, pinning him in place.

"N-no! Get this off me!" Lucas cried out, trying to pull himself out of the staples that pinned him in place.

"Stop struggling Lucas!" The ogre said to him.

Lucas focused on his PSI and an orange aura filled his body as he used Offense Up on himself. With the Offense Up buff, Lucas managed to use brute force to break out of the restraints on him and jump at the ogre to pound it with his bat. The ogre hissed in pain as it hit a wall.

"Dangit Lucas, what the heck got into you!?" The dragon roared, helping the ogre back up from the wall. "Boney said something was wrong with you, but we didn't think it'd be _this_ bad! It's us, Kumatora and Duster!"

"LIES! All of it are LIES! You _killed_ Claus!" Lucas shouted angrily. "I saw you do it! I'll make sure you pay until my last breath! PK Love Gamma!"

The dragon and ogre gasped in fear as Lucas released a powerful blue energy from his chest and it flew up into the sky before it exploded and the hexagonal pieces began falling towards them like meteors.

" _Lucas_!" The dragon yelled before grabbing it's ogre buddy and leaping off of the cliff just before the attack shattered onto the ground, the hexagonal pieces exploding as it made contact. Lucas was huffing to himself from the mental exertion using that attack did to him.

* * *

"Phew… they must be gone now." Lucas said to himself, not noticing that they had jumped off at the last second. He looked around before noticing a lotus root nearby. There was also a green shelled house in contrast to the usual pink shelled house over orange water, or possibly lava.

The boy walked towards the green shelled house, wondering if maybe the Magypsy lived here, but then the lotus root he was passing by suddenly said, "The bell has rung! DING DONG! You're pathetic! You're weak! You're weak! You're weak! Lotuuuuus rooooooot!"

"Stop it! No more! Please stop!" Lucas cried, tears spilling from his eyes.

" _Lucas?"_ The crying boy saw a familiar little alligator walking under him, looking in concern.

"Oh Boney… I lost everyone… these two terrible monsters killed Claus… and everyone hates me…" Lucas said sadly to his alligator dog.

" _Two monsters? You mean Kumatora and Duster?"_ Boney replied, looking confused, but more concerned than anything. _"I was wondering what got them riled up, jumping off the cliff like that. They said that you attacked them… Hey, this is the Magypsy's house at least. Maybe they won't be so creepy and can help you with whatever's going on. I hope you get better soon, Lucas."_

"Kumatora and Duster?" Lucas frowned in confusion. "They were here?"

" _Um… why don't you just go into the Magypsy's house and see if they can fix you up before I tell you what happened?"_ Boney suggested.

The sad boy just nodded his head, opening the door and heading inside the house. What he saw though wasn't a Magypsy, but a beautiful woman standing at the end of the house, along with another man standing to one side and… twisting his limbs around.

"Hello there! This is Mixolydia's house, she's a beauty isn't she?" The man said with a big smile on his face, and his limbs were moving in unnatural ways.

Lucas backed away from the man, feeling cautious after how everything kept smiling at him and then suddenly attacking him out of the blue. He slowly approached the beautiful woman, hoping this was the Magypsy and he didn't just walk into some trap.

"Uh… are you… Mixolydia?" Lucas timidly asked.

"Oh, hello there~! A visitor, and it looks like you're hopped up on mushrooms too~" The woman said, staring into Lucas's eyes. "And how flattering it is that you know my name too~! I think I remember you, Lucas wasn't it?"

"Uh… y-yeah… you're not going to attack me, or suddenly start saying bad things to me, a-are you?" Lucas asked, wary that it would happen again.

"Oh no, of course not sweetie. Those mushrooms you ate do terrible things, causing hallucinations that tear at the weaknesses and scars in your heart. But it's okay, I can snap you back to your senses now~" The woman replied.

Lucas gave a sigh of relief, as much as it was cool seeing such bright colors on things that made no sense, he was pretty much sick of it by this point and wanted to get back to normal as soon as possible.

"Come over here and turn around, please~" Mixolydia said with a kind smile, not at all like those eerie smiles he saw through the forest.

Lucas nodded and turned around, he closed his eyes as he waited for Mixolydia to fix his messed up brain. He thought he'd feel some kind of soothing healing PSI or something to fix him, but instead he just felt a sharp, stinging whack to the back of his head.

"Ow! W-what was that? You're hurting me too!?" Lucas turned around and opened his eyes to see that the Magypsy was holding a fan… and also looked like a regular Magypsy. He blinked a few times, then looked around the house and saw that everything wasn't so bright and trippy anymore, they were now back to their normal colors. He felt something paw at his leg and looked down to see Boney was pawing at him, and he actually looked like a dog this time.

" _Lucas? Are you better now?"_

"... Boney? You still look like an alligator to me," Lucas said in a serious tone.

Boney whined before he growled at Mixolydia, _"I thought you said you fixed him!"_

Lucas began chuckling before he said, "I'm kidding Boney! You're a dog again! Everything isn't all pink and bright anymore!"

" _... Why must you feel you had to tease me there? But yay! You're back to normal!"_ Boney cheered as he jumped at Lucas's face and began licking him like crazy.

Lucas fell over from Boney's sudden affection, and he heard Mixolydia giggle from next to him. "Oh good, it worked! Then again, it's always worked in the past~ So how are you feeling now?"

"I feel like I have a headache… and I never want to eat mushrooms again as long as I live!" Lucas groaned.

"Sounds like someone's feeling better." Lucas heard a voice say from outside. He turned to see both Kumatora and Duster struggling to make their way inside, they both looked like they were genuinely hurt. "Would have been nice if you felt that way _before_ you decided to bring out the big guns on us…" Kumatora grumbled.

Lucas looked at them in concern. "Kumatora, Duster! What happened to you guys? You looked like you've been bombed or something."

"You don't know?" Duster groaned.

"Don't know what?" Lucas blinked, wondering why they were looking at him like that.

"That PK Love Gamma you fired on us, Lucas? Doesn't ring a bell? Or maybe you forgot everything when you snapped out of those hallucinations?" Kumatora said, glaring sharply at Lucas, not in an angry way, but more sternly.

"What? B-but I didn't see you guys anywhere in the forest! I only used PK Love Gamma on-" Lucas stopped when he remembered that Boney didn't look like Boney to him while he was hallucinating. "... You… you two were the ones I was fighting against?"

"Who _else_ could it have been, Lucas? We _did_ say it was us when you started to fire on us!" Kumatora said, starting to raise her voice a little. Duster held her back, trying to calm her down.

"Calm down a little, Princess. Lucas didn't know any better."

Kumatora eventually calmed down a little, giving an annoyed sigh. "Right. Can you at least use your Lifeup on us, Lucas?"

"Y-yeah! Sure!" Lucas quickly put his hands on both of them. "Lifeup Gamma."

The word 'gamma' surprised Kumatora as she didn't know Lucas could use such a high level Lifeup. Her and Duster's body glowed a strong green aura as the wounds and all internal damage began healing up at a rapid rate. Pretty soon it felt like they were never even attacked.

Lucas was tired from using so many strong levels of PSI, but he felt it was the least he could do after what he did to them. "Kumatora… Duster… I'm really, _really_ sorry… it's just… it looked like you killed Claus in front of me and you guys looked like monsters. I was in a lot of emotional distress after that to really listen to anything you say."

"It's alright Lucas, you weren't thinking straight. We forgive you, right Kumatora?" Duster said, looking over at Kumatora.

"Yeah yeah, we know it wasn't your fault." she grumbled. "Speaking of Claus… we weren't able to find him anywhere. But at least we found our next Needle, maybe we can pull that quickly before continuing our search for him."

"I still think it is my fault." Lucas said with a sad sigh as he opened the door, looking outside to see the sky was blue, the grass and trees were green, and the 'lotus root' turned out to only be a frog. "I mean I did eat the mushrooms after all... I was just too hungry to resist."

"I have plenty of food if you need to eat."

Lucas turned to see the man he spoke with earlier was a giant octopus. He blinked at it, thinking maybe he was still hallucinating. "So many things just wash up on shore, you wouldn't believe it. We have more than enough for a nice feast for you all."

" _OH YES PLEASE! I'LL EAT ANYTHING AT THIS POINT!"_ Boney all but begged.

"I think it would be wise, especially since Lucas used up a lot of PSI." Duster said.

Lucas sighed as he said, "Fine, but I won't eat much… I'm kinda filled up on mushrooms…" he still felt guilty for hurting his friends, thinking they were enemies.

"You sure about that Lucas? You might want something better than a few funky mushrooms." Kumatora asked.

Lucas just nodded his head. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. I'll just be outside for a bit."

" _Suit yourself Lucas. More for me!"_ Boney said, wagging his tail at the giant octopus.

Lucas stepped outside, glad that everything looked normal again. The 'villagers' he saw turned out to be wild chimeras roaming the place, no wonder they kept attacking him. Lucas sighed in relief when he realized he hadn't lost his father or his brother, but Claus was still out there somewhere.

"Ribbit!"

"Hmm?" Lucas looked down when he saw the frog. It looked like a giant lotus root to him in the hallucination, but it was kinda funny that it turned out to be this tiny frog.

"You're another PSI user! Want to save?" the frog said in the human language, surprising Lucas.

"Oh, you're the thing I yelled at earlier." Lucas said, trying to push aside the fact that the frog was speaking in English. He remembered Kumatora saying something about how frogs are able to save a PSI user from death by rewinding time to when they were saved, but it only works once per frog or something, and only PSI users will remember the events. This had only happened once when Lucas was fighting with the Junk Heap back in the freeway.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I was trying to talk to you earlier but you suddenly freaked out. Are you okay?" The frog asked.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Lucas said. "I just… wasn't in my right mind at the moment. Sorry for yelling at you."

"It's fine! A lot of the sheman's visitors always act weird some way or another. Probably those mushrooms, just like the last poor sap who was passing by earlier. I wonder if he's doing okay? Anyways, wanna save now?"

"Um… what exactly do you mean by 'save'?" Lucas asked, if these frogs really had such power he was worried it would be painful. _I wonder what 'poor sap' the frog was talking about? Must be some old dude that came here long ago… but the frog implied they came here recently, maybe it was-_

"Ah, nothing much really." The frog said, interrupting Lucas's train of thought. "All us save frogs do is record this exact point in time. If you happen to die tragically in the next several days, then we can bring you back right to this spot. But we can only do it once. Oh, and we're not so powerful that we can bring you right back to this point from, say, old age. Now that's just cruel. Like I said, it's only if you die sometime in the next few days. Now… wanna save?" the frog croaked after explaining the process to Lucas.

"Hmm…" Lucas thought about how he came close to death on several occasions, maybe having a save frog save him would be very beneficial and it apparently wears off in a few days so he wouldn't have to worry about dying in his old age and waking up as a child again- though that would be an interesting experience. "Yeah, why not? It's better safe than sorry."

"Alright, finally! A bit of action on this desolate island." the frog said excitedly. It stayed silent for a while before finally speaking up again. "Okay, this moment has been saved! Be careful out there."

Lucas blinked and said, "That's it? Nothing else?"

"Yup, that's it! It's not that complicated," The frog said.

"Oh… wow… alright then. Thanks." Lucas smiled, feeling more confident knowing that death isn't going to be a threat for once, at least for a few days. He looked over at the mountain, knowing they'll have to climb it to get to the next Needle. Hopefully they'll find Claus before they had to leave.

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: *post AN* About the Save Frog thing, it doesn't seem right for Lucas to deny it. But I did have the frog explain it's limited to a few days before the save wears off, so no need to worry about that being a Deus Ex Machina later on. ^^' Just wanted to point that out.**


	32. Chapter 32: Tanetane Shrooms (Claus)

**DarkFoxKit: *Slowly lifts her head and looks around* … Heeeeey everyone… uh… I know that we didn't update this last week… but uh… well things got a little hectic… and we decided not to. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: *is curled up in a corner* … Oh, are we starting now? *runs over beside Fox* Heeey everyone! Yeah, we didn't update for… reasons.**

 **DarkFoxKit: *Can see an angry mob starting to come towards us* E-er… b-but we're here now! Everyone please relax, put down your pitchforks and guns… *is hugging Fyre* U-uh… m-my hard working co-writer and I will answer your long awaited reviews now. ^^''''**

 **Donfyre: *sees the mob and sweatdrops* Yeesh, tough crowd. Maybe we should barricade the… everything.**

* * *

 **Shimo no ko: DarkFoxKit: I sent Fyre your regards. ;)**

 **Donfyre: Eh heh… t-thanks for the regards. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: :3 Anyways, I loved doing the hallucinations, it was fun for me. Though it was pretty dark. ^^' I don't know what it is that fascinated me about those hallucinations, but I get a tickle out of it. And that poor sap is indeed in this chapter. ;) I won't say more about Flint. And thankfully we escaped the Shroobs… they almost got to us, which is why we didn't update last Monday.**

 **Bloxxerstudios1: Donfyre: Hi Bloxxy, you sound kinda like Papyrus. XP Glad to know you were waiting eagerly for this chapter! And sorry that you had to wait a little longer than usual. ^^;**

 **CalmTheHydregion: DarkFoxKit: *Looks at the damaged house* Just forget about it.**

 **Guest: Yeah, I always wondered why they didn't take the mushrooms with them since it can apparently heal all their HP and PP up. That way they wouldn't have to keep coming back just to heal again. But they're running low on food items and were in too much of a hurry to pack food when they went to Tanetane Island in this story.**

 **CalculusNova: I'd like to be given a nickel every time I heard that philosophy. That everything happens for a reason. ^^; I don't fully agree with it (can't say the same for Fox), but I can see where you're coming from.**

 **Well, that's just how the setup went. We wanted for the same type of conflict portrayed within the Mother 3 game, with a different twist spun onto it. Sorry that the way we wrote from there on in is different from the way you hoped, but that's just how it turned out when we wrote it and how we wanted it.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Well we just write what we want. This idea stems from the whole pulling the Needles from the actual game, so of course most of it will be using plot points from the game. I hope the story isn't too big of a disappointment for you though.**

 **FanofFiction123 : We're alive! And the shrooms in the game always fascinated me, but I don't know why. ^^' And no, Kumatora, Duster and Boney don't turn into monsters in the game, it's just something we added there. And to beat the Jealous Bass, I suggest using Pencil Bombs or PK Love to take out the drum and electric guitar first. They're too dangerous to keep on the battlefield for long.**

 **Donfyre: I remember that battle. Yeeeaah… tough times. ^^;**

 **Connor the speling pro: DarkFoxKit: I could not add the save frog you say? But I wanted to. I wanted to show what Lucas saw there, and I wanted Lucas to actually meet one in the story. And I had already put in a game mechanic like that, so it'd be odd to leave it out now. And it mostly only used the dialogue from the hallucinations since most of Lucas's fear stems from childhood, something that wasn't changed in this story technically. And I like 'recreating' things, but twisting them up to make them unique. I know that's not your style and that's not how you like to see it, but it's how I do things, at least for this kind of story. But if you're worried it'll be a complete rehash, don't be. And I thought I had some intriguing character and plot going on here, but I guess not. I was probably too focused on the hallucinations.**

 **Donfyre: Hooks? Well… we thought we had some good ones set in place with character interactions…**

 **sunflowermaiden210: DarkFoxKit: I'm not going to spoil that. And thanks, glad you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Donfyre: Aaaand… looks like that's it.**

 **DarkFoxKit: *falls on top of Fyre and sprawls over him***

 **Donfyre: ACK! *is squished under Fox* W-what the heck, Fox?**

 **DarkFoxKit: UwU Zzzzzzzzzzzz**

 **Donfyre: Oh, um… looks like someone's tired. ^^; Aaand… doesn't look like I'll be going anywhere anytime soon. Hope you enjoy this chapter, everyone! We hope to hear from you aaaand see ya next time!**

* * *

 **Chapter 32: Tanetane Shrooms (Claus)**

"Think he'll wake up soon?"

"I hope so. Make sure the oxygen machine has plenty of oxygen to keep him breathing."

"This is so wrong. Whose idea was it to make the oxygen machine like THIS? I don't think the Commander would be too happy when he wakes up to _this_!"

 _What happened? The last thing I remember was being pulled down into the ocean… how am I alive? Did I get washed up to shore or something?_ Claus thought to himself as he slowly began to open his eyes to see a couple of purple Pigmasks looking at him, they appeared to be wearing scuba diving gear. _Ah, the Navy Squeal ranks, I almost forgot these guys existed… wait… why are they here? Where is HERE?_

When Claus's eyes began to adjust a little more, he noticed there was something in front of his face and covering his mouth. _Wait… am I underwater? … How am I breathing?_

"Hey, it looks like he's coming to. We should hold him down if he starts freaking out," one of the Navy Squeals said.

"What? Dude, he's our _commander_ , restricting him doesn't feel right," the other Navy Squeal said back to him.

"Yeah but it'll be _our_ fault if he drowns all because he decided to destroy the stupid freaky oxygen machine. Now get ready, I think his vision might be clearing to the water," the first Navy Squeal replied.

 _What are they talking about? Why would I freak out over some stupid oxygen machine?_ Claus blinked a few times before he managed to see just what was on his mouth… lips… big lips. And the lips belonged to what appears to be a merman.

Now Claus is a straight kind of guy, and he's young and hadn't been all that interest in romance yet, but seeing this… this… merMAN locking lips with him like this… He paled before his hands sparked.

"BWAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH!" The entire area of that spot of the ocean suddenly had a huge lightning bolt coming right out of it.

At the bottom of that very spot of the ocean, two now-charcoaled Navy Squeals lay next to their hyperventilating commander.

"I… told you… to hold him down…" one of them coughed. The merman somehow was still locking lips with Claus, but the moment it finished Claus pushed away the machine and stared down at the two Navy Squeals.

The boy wished he could talk underwater, but he lacked any gear to do so unlike the Navy Squeal. Instead he just glared at them and pointed at the merman thing that was somehow still intact. It must have been lightning proof. He put a gloved hand over his mouth as if mortified.

The other Navy Squeal coughed, slowly turning his head to where Claus had pointed. "Er, y-yeah… Sorry about that Commander. That's the new oxygen machine…. Don't know whose stupid idea _that_ was… But I think the army would appreciate if… you didn't try to fry the entire ocean next time you need oxygen…"

Claus crossed his arms and shook his head, there was no way in all of the ruined world would he _ever_ lock lips with another one of those so-called oxygen machines again, not even for oxygen. And he could swear that 'merman' was winking at him funny.

The two Navy Squeals kept coughing. It didn't look like they were going to get up anytime soon. "L-look, Commander… if you really need oxygen that bad then just swim. There's an island not too far from here…. Tanetane, I think it's called… We'll just lie here as an… extra break."

Claus gave them a concerned look and tried to help them up since he felt guilty for hurting them, but he could already feel his lungs starting to burn. The boy frowned as he looked back at them. _Maybe they'll be fine… but… I can't just leave them down here like this…_ The boy grabbed both of their arms and tried to drag them up to the surface… only for him to realize that the surface was really far away. _Crap…_

The boy tried to activate his jetwings to fly out of there faster, but all it did was make a noise and nothing happened. Claus inwardly cursed when he remembered that his jetwings got fried _again_ by the renegades earlier.

"Commander… I appreciate that you're trying to help, I really do…" one of the Navy Squeals coughed again. "But we have these suits that will last us a while underwater. Maybe the oxygen tanks are… a little broken, but we can still use the oxygen machine when we need it. You don't have a suit, so you should get some air. We'll just keep lying here, it's actually pretty nice."

Claus frowned at that before he dropped them near another oxygen machine, which was also a merman. He wished he could say sorry, that he hope they'll be okay or explain that the base is in ruins back on land, but all he could do was wave to them and continue swimming. He had an important job to do after all and he'll just have to hope the Navy Squeals can take care of themselves.

Unfortunately Claus could feel his lungs burning, screaming for air. He wasn't sure if he'll make it to the surface in time.

"Would you like some oxygen?" He froze when he saw a 'merman' swimming in front of him, asking that question.

Claus quickly shook his head, but had to shut his eyes as his face turned red from the lack of oxygen. He felt the 'merman' grabbing his shoulders and started leaning towards his face. The boy quickly shoved the 'merman' away from him and began flailing as he was trying to swim up to the surface. The lack of air in his lungs was taking its toll on the 13 year old commander, because his head started spinning and he was having trouble telling which way was up or down.

Just as Claus felt like his lungs were going to explode, he felt and heard himself brake surface. He immediately took a large, gasping breath now that he finally had some oxygen, that _didn't_ come from a merman's lips.

"Okay… I should… be good to just… swim there… like this…" Claus panted as he began swimming on the surface, hoping Tanetane Island wasn't too far away.

* * *

It felt like hours since he's been swimming, and Claus wished his jetwings were still working, swimming there was taking too long and he was getting tired. "I don't even _see_ the island over the horizon! I'll never get there at this rate!"

Suddenly something under him began to pull his leg, just like the first time. Claus yelp as he kicked whatever was trying to pull him down. He aimed his arm cannon at the thing underwater and fired at it. A blast hit something and it gave a squeal, letting Claus go. The boy quickly began swimming away as fast as he could. Unfortunately, whatever that thing was didn't want to give up pulling him under, because it began to create a whirlpool. Claus yelped as he was being dragged into the whirlpool and going under once again.

"Hey! Let go of me!" Claus began firing his arm cannon at whoever or whatever was doing this, but it was hard to aim as the whirlpool whirled him around and his shots blasted off in random directions. The only thing he could see was a purple and blue entity swimming around in the whirlpool near him, but Claus was having trouble shooting as it was right under him.

The blue and purple thing grabbed onto his legs and pulled him under again. Claus glared as he was trying to kick it off him, and it began to spin him around in a smaller whirlpool, like it was trying to play with him like some kind of toy. Claus was trying to use the helmet to aim at it, but he was too dizzy to try to activate it, luckily his mechanical eye was able to aim without needing it to be activated. Claus learned it was weak to electricity, so he called upon PK Thunder by concentrating since he couldn't speak while underwater.

A single lightning bolt fired from the sky, luckily hitting its mark at the creature that was trying to toy with Claus, with the rest of the lightning dissipating around the creature. He heard the blue and purple thing make a large cry and instead of slowing down Claus felt the creature start to swim even faster than before. The whirlpool was getting larger and faster, and Claus had a hard time keeping up with his surroundings as he was pushed around even more.

The creature had a strange almost human-like head with hands, and the rest of its body was just a circular coiled up serpent. Claus wasn't sure if this thing was some kind of mythical creature of the ocean or another chimera gone rogue. Either way it seemed to want to drown him so he was fighting for his life. Claus managed to grab the hilt of his Thunder Striker and activate it quickly, the creature seem to react badly towards the Thunder Striker since it was made from electricity. The boy didn't hesitate to slash forward to get the creature off him, but that didn't stop it from creating more whirlpools to make it hard for him to stay stable. Claus gritted his teeth as he threw his sword like a boomerang, it sliced through the creature's slender form, causing it to cry out in pain, before the sword came back to Claus's hands. The boy looked down at his Thunder Striker, surprised that it came back, but didn't question it for long as he aimed another slash at the crying creature.

The creature began writhing even more with each slash Claus took at the creature. And with each slash it only seemed to get more adrenaline as it started speeding up the whirlpool more and more. By this point Claus was too disoriented to do much anymore, but managed to get in a few last hits.

With one last cry, the creature used up the last of its strength to whirl up a storm, causing the whirlpool to swirl even larger and faster than it had before. Claus's eyes widen as he grab onto his helmet just before the whirlpool swallowed him up. All the boy could do was hold on to his helmet and sword to make sure he didn't lose them and shut his eyes as his body was thrown violently everywhere in the giant whirlpool. Any food or items he may have taken along with him flew out of his pocket and was lost in sea. Claus tried to open his mouth to breathe or scream, but all that came in was water, he gasped which caused MORE water to gush in and began choking.

The boy was losing air fast and his lung were filling up with water, he felt dizzy and sick from all the spinning. Eventually he felt his consciousness slipping, everything was getting dark. He saw some shadows looming over him, though he couldn't tell if he was still spinning in the whirlpool or not.

Claus closed his eyes as he awaited his fate, maybe it wouldn't be so bad… at least he would see his mother again. He felt someone picking him up, that could be the Navy Squeal or that creature wanting to torture his body once he's gone. Either way there's no way the Navy Squeal would get him to the surface in time with all that water in his lungs.

* * *

The next thing Claus saw when he opened his eyes was bright blue sky. He quickly shut his eyes again, sitting up and rubbing them. _Ugh… is this the afterlife?_ He opened his eyes again. A small beach, with a forest not too far off. He looked over to the ocean and thought he saw something large with a fish-like tail dive into the water. But that might have just been his imagination.

 _I'm… on an island? Is this Tanetane Island? Wait… how did I get here? How am I even ALIVE? Am I alive?_ Claus stood up, feeling aching pains as he did so, along with a hungry stomach. "Ugh… Yeah, I'm alive… I wouldn't feel pain if I wasn't… But I lost everything from that stupid attack… There… has to be something to eat here…"

Claus realized he was standing in shallow water and sighed as he crawled onto the beach, but didn't see a tree branch next to him and got a piece of his jacket stuck on it. Claus hissed as his body was in too much pain to really try to take it off the branch and opted to keep going until it tore off, a part of the cloth staying on the branch.

Claus looked around the beach. Nothing to eat here. He looked over at the forest and began to slowly make his way over there. The boy stopped when he saw some kind of moving zombie mushroom creature thing. It was dancing around like it didn't care. The young commander sighed and took off his helmet, he was glad he managed to keep it on him during that wild ride, but now it just felt like it was crushing his aching head. Claus tried to use PK Fire to get that mushroom creature out of his way, but nothing came out of his hands.

"Dang it… I'm all out of PSI and I'm hurting all over the place." Claus groaned as he laid down on the ground and his stomach began to growl angrily at the lack of nutrients lately. "And I'm starving… what am I going to do now?"

"Ribbit. Did someone just say PSI?" Claus was startled at the voice. He turned his head but didn't see anything… except for a sleeping snake with a weird moving bulge in its stomach. "Hey, you hear me? I'm right here!"

"W-what?" Claus blinked as he rolled over onto his stomach and looked at the snake. "... Are you talking to me?" He poked the snake's moving belly, not sure if he was even asking the snake itself or whatever was eaten alive by it.

"Hey, don't do that!" The moving bulge in the snake's stomach squirmed around a little more, making Claus pull his hand away and stare at the bulge in shock and disgust "And yes, I am talking to you. You said you can use PSI, right? Normally I would ask if you could help me out, but I _am_ a save frog, so… would you like to save?"

"Wah!? A save frog got _swallowed_?" Claus wanted to throw up if he could, but there was nothing for him to vomit out. "How did that even happen? And maybe I _should_ get you out! I mean how are you going to 'save me' if you're being digested as we speak?"

"Don't question that, we have our ways. And… various circumstances led me to be inside this snake now. But don't mind that right now, would you like to save?" The frog didn't seem to be phased too much about the fact that he was possibly being digested as he spoke.

"I don't really…" Claus sighed as he rubbed his head. He had almost died back there and his body was incredibly weak, there's a strong chance he could die out here. "Ugh… fine, 'save me' or whatever. I might starve to death before anything anyways…"

"Alright! Aaaaand saved," The frog said, wriggling triumphantly inside the snake's stomach. "Now, you sound like you're pretty low on energy. You might be able to find something to eat if you look around here. Don't mind me, I'll just keep fighting against this snake's gastric juices."

"... I think I lost my appetite," Claus groaned. "Well I hope you'll get out alive then."

Claus sighed as he looked around the island, trying to think of what to do or where to go. He first priority is to find the Needle, but with his jetwings out of commission and his body too weak to put up much of a fight, all he can do is stagger around aimlessly looking for a place to rest or something to eat. He walked up to the dancing mushroom again and saw it looking at him.

"Huh?"

Then it suddenly sprayed out spores in his face and caused Claus to choke. The boy felt like he passed out, but what confused him was that he woke up back at the beach where the frog inside the snake was. "Huh? What am I doing back here?"

"You died. You choked to death. Apparently the spores from the mushroom creatures are deadly and your body was too weak to resist it," The frog from within the belly explained. "Time was short, so I don't think any other PSI users would've noticed the sudden turn back, but sadly I can't save you again. You better just stay here and eat something to replenish yourself before you go any further."

"But what can I eat?" Claus asked as he turned. "All I see are a bunch of funky looking mushrooms and I'm not touching those, they look poisonous!"

"Mushrooms? Last I heard they do some amazing things. But I think they have some kind of side effects…" The frog said, still wriggling inside the snake's stomach. "Besides, do you want to die in the blink of an eye again? If that's the only option you have then you might as well go for it."

Claus sighed as he put his helmet back on. "Fine, I guess it's better than nothing. I just hope it isn't deadly."

The tired boy walked over to the pile of mushrooms and noticed a small sign. It said 'Energizing Mushrooms. Don't eat too many.'

Claus picked up a mushroom and sniffed it, he tried to get his helmet to analyze the mushroom to see if there were any poisonous spore on the thing. Unfortunately with his low PSI and possibly the whirlpool damaging it made it so he couldn't get the analyzer to work, not even his synthetic eye would scan it. Claus sighed as he knew he would have to take a chance. He opened his mouth and slowly took a small bite from the mushroom. He cringed a bit as he chewed and swallowed, worried that he would drop dead.

Nothing happened, so he was relieved. "I guess these aren't too bad…"

Now that he knew it wasn't deadly, he decided to eat more. His hunger wanted to be satisfied so Claus ate another mushroom and another, his body started feeling a lot better like someone used Lifeup on him. "Wow, these are pretty good!"

Claus wasn't sure how much he ate, but he felt a tingly feeling in his head. He stopped eating and spat out a stem when he noticed the world around him was starting to look weird. The colors on the trees were looking pink, the grass was looking a weird shade of pink too. The mud was looking blue or purple, almost like candy. In fact the entire world had strange neon colors around him. The sky was orange and the sea looked hot pink, if it was any redder it could be mistaken for blood.

"What the omelettes?" Claus stood up and looked around, wondering what happened to the world while he was eating. "Um… Mr. Frog, did something ha- what?" He looked at the snake, but all he saw was a black umbrella that was snoring and had a lump that was moving a bit.

"Heeey, you sound better already! Looks like those mushrooms did their job," the frog (or was it really?) said as the lump in the umbrella squirmed around a little more. "But remember I can't save you anymore, so you're on your own now. Like how I'm on my own to defend against this snake's gastric juices. Ya!"

Claus grabbed the umbrella(?) and tried to open it, but all he got was it struggling and squirming in his hands. The 'umbrella' then opened and spluttered out purple juice as well as something slimy that landed on his head. Claus was glad he kept his helmet on. He dropped the 'umbrella' and it quickly slithers away.

"H-huh? Aw, and here I thought I was actually accomplishing something on my own for once," The slimy thing hopped off Claus's helmet onto the ground, and he saw that the slimy thing was a… butterfly/frog hybrid. A butterfrog?

"Ribbit. Well, I guess I should thank you for saving me. You look great already! Good luck with these forests, try not to get eaten by a snake." Claus saw it then fly away into the weird pink forest.

"... Did he not notice how pink everything was?" Claus wondered to himself. "Maybe this place naturally changes color…" He shrugged as he decided to move on into the forest, he felt a lot better and he did have a Needle to find and protect. He grabbed one more mushroom for the road just in case and stuffed it into his pocket.

* * *

Claus walked through the spot he's sure he saw that mushroom creature earlier, but as he was passing by he stopped in shock. "D-Dad? You… I-I mean… uh sir? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Claus, it's you," Flint said, surprising Claus. "What are you doing here? You look lost and scared."

"W-wah? H-how did you know it was me?" Claus asked in shock. "A-and I'm not scared or lost, I came here to find something important!"

"Oh, you're looking for something? But why Claus? You should be looking straight for home. With me. With Lucas," Flint said, starting to smile. "Come home Claus. Dinner's almost ready."

"What? N-no, I can't… I-I don't know how you know it's me, Dad, but I can't go home. I have to find the Needle!" Claus protested. _Dad sure is acting weird…_

Flint came closer to him, making Claus a little more nervous, and his smiling started to get wider and on borderline creepy. "Needle? What's a Needle? Are you a Needle? It's a lie, you're a lie, are you a Needle? I'm going to pull you!" He kicked up dust at Claus.

Claus yelped and jumped back in fear, why was Flint acting this way? "D-Dad! What are you doing!? Stop it!"

"Hinawa's waiting, Claus," Flint said.

"W-what? But Dad, Mom's been gone for three years! She's not coming back." Claus frowned, was Flint going crazy?

"Hinawa's not coming back? Why not? Did you do something to her? Dinner's almost ready. Daddy's going to beat you up," Flint said as his smile was so wide that Claus thought his face would split.

Scared now and not wanting to hurt his own father, Claus ran in the other direction, going deeper into the bright neon pink forest and as far away from crazy Flint as possible.

"Oh man… What happened to you Dad?" Claus whispered in worry. "I know I haven't been home in a while… but did it hurt so much that it broke you?"

Claus took a quick glance behind him as he ran to see if Flint was following him. But the moment he looked back he immediately collided with something in front of him, causing him to fall backwards.

"Ow! Stupid tree… Wait, a mailbox?" Claus rubbed his head and saw that he ran into, not a tree, but a bright red mailbox. He stood back up and looked at it curiously. "What's this doing in a place like this?"

He knew he shouldn't do it, but out of curiosity he decided to take a peek inside anyways. Once he did he wished he hadn't. He saw himself crying over his mother's grave along with Lucas. He blinked and closed it, before he opened it again, thinking maybe it was a trick or something. He saw 1000 dead rat corpses. He closed it again and opened it to see a letter this time. He sighed in relief, finally something normal. He took out the letter and read it curiously.

'A boy named Claus is bullying his brother. A boy named Claus is allowing animals to be reconstructed. A boy named Claus is helping the bad man take over his home. A boy named Claus learned some bad magic. A boy named Claus is lying to his family.'

Claus bit his lip as he threw down the letter and backed away from the mailbox as if it was about to eat him. Claus quickly ran from the mailbox and ran deeper into the forest. _W-what was that? Why did the mailbox show those things!?_

Claus kept on running but he started to slow down when he saw that he wasn't alone this deep in the forest. He started seeing… other Tazmily villagers walking around. All of them smiling and wandering aimlessly.

"The… the villagers?" Claus said to himself, blinking. "But why are they here? Is… is this even Tanetane Island or another place that everyone's going to?"

One of the villagers noticed Claus and slowly started walking over to him. It was a lady who, like the others, kept on smiling. "Claus? You're here? Where have you been? Everybody's been waiting for you, you're always gone from home. Where have you been?"

"E-everybody was waiting… for _me_? But why? I-I mean, I can't! I have a mission to do," Claus said to this villager. He didn't remember ever meeting her before, and he usually knew all the villagers…

"You have to be gone again, Claus? But why? Your friends are waiting. Your family is waiting. Lucas is waiting. Your dad is waiting. Your mom is waiting, at home cooking omelets."

"M-mom?" Claus repeated. That was the second time he heard that Hinawa was alive, first from Flint and now from this random villager. The smile on the lady just kept getting larger.

"Everybody's waiting, Claus. Everybody's waiting. EVERYBODY'S WAITING!" With that, the lady lunged at Claus.

"Wah! S-stay away!" Claus yelled as he used PK Freeze to keep her in place. "What is going on here!? Why is everyone after me!? And how do you guys even know it's me!?"

"You can't run away from who you are, Claus," Another villager said. "You've been a very bad boy."

Claus backed away as the villagers were all trying to gang up on him. "S-stay away! Please stop it!" One of the bulkier villagers bum rushed him into a tree. "Gah!"

"You're working for the Pigmasks, you must be punished. You are one of them, you are not one of us. You hurt us all, you must be punished," They all said.

Claus hissed as he stood up and ran deeper in the forest, trying to get away from these crazy people that are trying to kill him.

The people were still chasing him and Claus was getting worried that they would catch up and rip him apart. "... Please forgive me for this… P-PK… Love!" He used the alpha stage as he didn't want to hurt them too much, just enough to get them to stop chasing him. The blue hexagonal explosion was more than enough to stop the villagers in their places as they worried he would hurt them.

"I knew he was a monster," A young girl hissed as he ran off.

Claus panted and stopped running when he figured he was a good distance away from the villagers. _I don't understand… why is this even happening? Is this the New Pork City Fassad was telling me about? Have it turned everyone into rabid animals? … But this doesn't look like a city, just a really strange neon colored jungle…_

"Claaaauuuus~"

Claus jumped and turned around to see who called him. His organic and synthetic eyes both went wide when he saw another uncomfortable familiar face. This one was Boney and he sounded human.

"B-Boney? You can… t-talk?"

"Of course I can talk. I can talk all day long about how you're a horrible master, you never spend any time with me or with Lucas and Flint. You broke Lucas's heart, you monster. You betrayed him and me, how dare you still call yourself as a part of my pack," Boney growled at him.

Claus took a step back at Boney's hostility. "B-Boney… I didn't mean anything bad. I just did what I believed was best for everyone!"

Boney just quickly jumped forth again to close the distance, still growling at Claus. "You joined the Pigmasks, Claus. You betrayed us. You joined the people who killed Hinawa. The Pigmasks killed her. _You_ killed her. You should roast with the rest of them!"

Boney opened his maw and suddenly began spitting fire right at Claus! The boy yelped from the flames and quickly backed away, trying to bat the flames away from his coat. He glanced at Boney again to see that he was still growling angrily at him. He gave the dog a sad look.

"I-I didn't mean to, Boney. I just wanted to help everyone!" Claus said, backing away more now that Boney could use some crazy attacks like spitting fire.

"Kumatora was right about you. You're pulling the Needles, which makes you a hypocrite," Boney growled. "You plan on destroying this world! At least we're doing it for a good cause and honest about it. But you… all you're doing is hiding yourself from everyone you love, and now they're against you for it. And you deserve it, you monster." He opened his maw and spat out more fire at Claus.

"PK Freeze!" Claus shut Boney's maw with his ice to keep him from shooting anymore flames at him and to shut him up. "Please stop! I'm doing what's right!"

* * *

Claus backed away and began running in the opposite direction, unable to take anymore verbal abuse from his own dog. Claus climbed some purple vines that lead up a cliff. And when he reached the top, he was rather surprised to see that butterfrog again, and a green shelled house over orange water… or that could be lava.

"Claus… where do you think you're going?" Another familiar voice spoke up, making Claus cringe.

"... Oh no…" He slowly turned around to see Hinawa, his mother. "M-Mom! But… but… you're dead…!"

"Oh Claus, what are you talking about? I'm right here," Hinawa said, smiling softly at Claus. "I wanted to see you again after such a long time."

"W-what? N-no! You can't be alive! I saw that Drago pierced your chest!" Claus yelled, backing away from her.

"The Drago that pierced my chest?" she responded, still smiling. "... Yes, that one. The same Drago that those monsters had manipulated. The monsters that you joined, Claus. Why did you join them?"

"They didn't know it would do that!" Claus yelled, trying to justify himself.

"How could you do this to me, Claus? How could you turn into one of the monsters that hurt me? You're practically a chimera yourself. You're not my son anymore. You hurt Lucas, my favorite son, and my husband." Hinawa said as she began to smile that same creepy smile everyone else had. "I never loved you, Claus. I only loved your brother. You could never be what he is, you'll always be the troublemaker who tries but failed to follow in his much better twin's footsteps."

"Stop it! You're not my mother! She would never be this cruel!" Claus screamed as he aimed his arm cannon at her.

"How could you? You're the one who's not my son. All you ever do is hurt, including yourself," She said.

Claus tried to fire his arm cannon at her, but he didn't have the will to hurt his mother, even if she is supposedly dead and cruel. He fell to his knees and started to cry. "Please stop… I'm not a monster… I didn't do anything wrong…"

The poor boy expected something else from his mother, possibly a harsh remark. But instead he heard another voice. "Ribbit. Are you okay there? You should probably get away before from that giant creature before it does something to you."

Claus looked up to where he heard the voice, seeing another butterfrog flying in front of him. "W-what do you want? … Can't you see this woman is making me cry!?"

Suddenly Claus felt something really hot hit him from the side. He yelped and hissed as it felt like getting hit by one of Boney's fireballs. He looked back at Hinawa to see she just hit him with a fire attack. "W-why Mom?"

"You've been a very bad boy, Claus. You need to burn!" She yelled before charging at him.

Claus reacted by instinct as he activated his Thunder Striker and slashed through her waist, practically slicing her in half before her body rippled and changed into what appeared to be a giant red dragonfly monster. "W-what!?"

"Oh, you have a sword made of PSI. That works too, but it's still alive. You should probably knock it out before it tries to attack you again," the butterfrog croaked. "And why are you crying? Is this dragonfly your friend or something?"

Claus was beyond confused now. "B-but… that dragonfly… she was my mother! H-how… why did she turn into a dragonfly!?"

The dragonfly no longer spoke, instead it just made a strange sound as it charged at him. Claus didn't know if he should attack or not, because if this was Hinawa's spirit then he just committed a horrendous act by trying to slice her in half with his sword. The dragonfly 'Hinawa' shot out fire at him again, forcing Claus to react as he literally slice the flames with his Thunder Striker. "... I-I'm sorry Mom… PK Freeze beta!" He froze the fiery dragonfly with the ice crystals, causing it to crash into the ground in pieces.

When Claus looked back at the butterfrog, it was staring at him wide-eyed. "... W-what?"

"That dragonfly was your _mother_!? You must have some weird family reunions," the butterfrog said back.

"I-it might be, it might not be… I-I don't know… It's like the entire world and everyone I know are coming after my head or something." Claus frowned. "I think it's because they think I betrayed them for joining up with the army… now everyone hates me… and look at me! I'm talking to a frog with _butterfly wings_!"

"Butterfly wings? I think I'm quite the dashing frog myself but that's a little too much," the frog said. "Hey, you're that same boy from earlier, aren't you? The one who helped me out of the snake's stomach? You're pretty weird for a boy your age, unless those mushrooms did something to you."

"Mushrooms? … You think they might've done something to me? I don't think so. They couldn't have turned this entire island into some neon color carnival! Not that I've been to one, but I've heard about it. I mean how could a few mushrooms make the trees turn pink, the grass and mud pink and purple like candy? How does it make all the villagers from my hometown move here and decide to come after my head because they found out I'm a commander for their greatest 'enemies'? No, this whole island is a CURSE! And I need to find that Needle and get out of here as soon as possible!" Claus was pretty much hysterical at this point.

The butterfrog looked around the island as Claus was more or less shouting this. He looked back at Claus and ribbited. "Yep, it's those mushrooms. This island's always been the same, nothing like how you said. Maybe you should check on the Magypsy over there first, she might be able to-"

Claus shook his head frantically. "No! No! No! NO! I do _not_ trust Magypsies other than Locria with my LIFE! They're the ones who wanted me to pull the Needles!"

Before the butterfrog could say anything else, someone was calling out to Claus from a blue wooden gate that was a few feet away from the green Magypsy's house.

"Claus, I see you, brother."

"L-Lucas?" Claus stared at him.

Lucas gave him a kind smile rather than a creepy one, but Claus was still skeptical. Then the blond haired boy turned around as he began laughing cheerfully and ran into the cave.

"L-Lucas! Wait!" Claus called for his brother and ran after him.


	33. Chapter 33: The Barrier Trio?

**DarkFoxKit: *Is holding Fyre and crying in his chest* Whhhhy? Why do you have to gooooo? DX**

 **Donfyre: S-soooorry! My family wanted to celebrate my birthday with a bang, so it wasn't really my choice that I had to go away for vacation.**

 **DarkFoxKit: But I had a gift ready for you and everything! *pouts* … Do you want to tell our dear readers when your birthday is?**

 **Donfyre: H-huh? My birthday? Weeeell… I guess it wouldn't hurt, even if it's kinda sensitive info. ^^; It's on February 19.**

 **DarkFoxKit: So just four days after Valentine's Day! *hugs Fyre* Hee, hee, hee… WHHHHY COULDN'T YOU BE HEEEERE? ;w; *Notices the camera* … We're… still on, aren't we. *AHEM!* … Uh… well… erm… yes, Fyre is going to be on vacation for the next week… so we decided to get this AN done so we can update Rebuild or Reborn. It's all for YOU guys! OwO**

 **Donfyre: Um… also 'cause I don't know how you'd be like if you had to do the AN alone. Actually, I would've been pretty upset too if we couldn't do this AN together. So yeah, there's another reason. ^^; And hey, it makes it fun for us to make these AN's, and (hopefully) fun for you guys to read! :D**

 **DarkFoxKit: *Is hugging Fyre like a stuffed animal* Alright, so let's answer the reviews and be on our way. Actually… Fyre, you sleep on my lap tonight. I'll handle the reviews, you must be exhausted from school and packing.**

 **Donfyre: Um… I-I'll just sleep on your lap here? While the camera's still rolling? ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Heh, you'll be like a cute kitten taking a nap on my lap while I answer back to everyone. *Rubs Fyre's head***

 **Donfyre: Hey, YOU'RE supposed to be the fox kit here! DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: I am the fox kit, you're the cute little Wooper who needs his rest. c: Now then… you go ahead and close your eyes while I answer back all those reviews, okay?**

 **Donfyre: *pouts* F-fiiiiine. Have fun with the chapter then, readers! *curls up on Fox's lap***

 **DarkFoxKit: Hee, hee, hee, he's so precious. :3**

* * *

 **CalculusNova : I think you mean everything that happens has a chain reaction if that's the case. But I myself do believe in God, but I won't force my belief on ya. XP And that's all I have to say on the matter. I suppose it's a little difficult to know how you're feeling about something through text alone, getting your point across could be challenging. And I seem to do that a lot; follow the story but change it with my own twist. ^^' And I'm sure you'll see some tragic in this story soon, if not now with the whole mushroom hallucination stuff going on.**

 **Shimo no ko: Yeah, that was a pretty funny beginning, and then it all spiraled down to the creepy hallucinations. Heh… the mushrooms don't give mercy to those that eat them. And yup, while doing Lucas was (sadistically) fun for me to do, it was Claus where I started to shine more with it, since his character probably changed more than Lucas' did compared to the canon. And we are both happy that you enjoy our work. :)**

 **Connor the speling pro: Yeah, I know what hooks are. ^^' It's just it really depends on the reader actually, some readers may not be hooked while others will be so hooked they can't look away from the screen. You can't please everyone after all, all you can do is do what you enjoy and hope for the best. This story isn't meant for mystery, it's more meant for characters and their struggles and growth. And yes, it would be weird if the save frogs didn't appear again. Because we already introduced them, but we rarely use them, hence why I didn't make a lot of them appear. One rule I learn from writing is to not take a note about a pistol in the room and never use it, what was the point of taking a note of it in the first place? And unfortunately I never thought to implement that idea into the story, that would've made it more interesting. Maybe next time. And yes, those oxygen machines are… well… it makes you wonder who in the world made those. And I've never hallucinated before (thankgoodness) but I would say it might be akin to as if you were dreaming, where nothing really makes sense yet you accept it (not counting lucid dreamers). And Fyre here made that comment about the weird family reunion thing. ;3**

 **Bloxxerstudious1 : Hehehe, I'm not going to give anything away until you read the chapter for yourself. :3 And hi time traveller, nice to meet ya!**

 **FanofFiction123: Heh, sorry about the wait. ^^' And glad you managed to get past the boss! Don't worry, I had trouble with the Jealous Bass too. And Fyre came up with that line everyone seems to love so much. XD And yeah, poor Claus really thinks he's a monster. He's always been second guessing if what he's doing with the Pigmask is really right after all, but he's already made his commitment and couldn't just turn back now. And I got a sadistic kick out of it. ^^'**

 **Guest: That was in Lucas's hallucination. Claus had no reason to go in that direction. ^^'**

 **sunflowermaiden210 : I guess I could relate to Claus here more since I gave him more of my own personality in this story. Lucas hadn't changed much from the canon universe. I didn't feel like he would. And uh… well if the others hadn't played the game yet and are reading this story, they really shouldn't be reading a Mother 3 fanfic in the first place if they didn't want to be spoiled. Or maybe I misunderstood what you meant.**

 **Joltik12 : Well that's kinda what the story is about… and… Hmm… *shakes Fyre awake from my lap* Hey, Fyre? Do you mind answers these two questions real quick?**

 **Donfyre: W-wha…? *shakes my head and looks at the camera groggily* Aw man, I was just getting real comfy. But I guess I can answer the questions. The first about evolving into Quagsire… Er, see, I don't really like Quagsire. ^^; It's kinda like how Foxy here really likes Zorua but doesn't exactly have those same feelings for Zoroark. And as for the latter question about updating my stories…. U-uh… a-about that… O-oh look at that! *is smiling nervously* But uh… if you really want to know badly, then you could PM me or something.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Heh… yeah, I like Zorua but Zoroark… I really don't care for it. I prefer the more fox design like Ninetales. And anyways… I believe that is all the reviews now. *Stretches* Shall we head to bed now?**

 **Donfyre: I'm already pretty comfy on here. :P *is still curled up on Fox's lap***

 **DarkFoxKit: Heh, alright~ *reaches for the camera* We both look forward to hearing from you guys soon. Happy Valentine's Day! And happy birthday to Fyre! :D**

 **Donfyre: Goodbyyyye everyone! And enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

 **Chapter 33: The Barrier Trio...?**

Claus looked around the cave, which was all pink inside too. He could hear Lucas laughing and it was echoing. "I'm over here, brother~" He saw Lucas already at the other side of the cave, waiting for him with that same kind smile he knew his brother to always have.

The young ginger haired boy ran after him and Lucas ran ahead again. Outside of the cave was more cliffs and pink and blue ground, but Claus ignored it all as he kept following Lucas, who seemed to be teleporting all over the place. He could've sworn a strong wind was trying to knock him over, but he easily used his Thunder Striker to deflect the heavy winds.

After a while, Lucas finally stopped and waited for him at the top of the cliff they were climbing. Nothing but the pink grass and the orange sky around them, but there were three others behind Lucas.

"This way Claus," Lucas said with a cheerful tone.

Claus was panting as he had done nothing but chase after his little brother for the past few minutes. "Lucas… y-you're here… But why did you bring me here? What's over here?"

"I wanted to talk to you Claus," Lucas said. The other three people behind him were surprisingly quiet. "Why didn't you tell me you were a commander of the Pigmask army? Why did you have to hide your PSI from me for all these years? I'm hurt that you did that."

"W-what?! You found out, Lucas?" Claus said, mortified. He didn't know what to say as Lucas was still staring at him for an answer. "I-I… I just wanted to help, Lucas… But I didn't think you'd like it if I worked with the Pigmasks, so I had to keep it secret! B-but it's not what you think, I just want to help this world too…"

"Oh really? Was the secret so important that you felt you had to hurt me physically just to keep it a secret?" Lucas asked, his tone becoming darker. "You fought with me, you almost killed me, you pulled the other Needles and yet you had the audacity to judge me and say you're just trying to rebuild the world? Like you said… we're enemies now. I don't need you anymore, Claus, I have my friends and they're much more of a family to me than you ever were."

"W-what? N-no Lucas, I never meant it like that. I do care for you, a lot! That's why I wanted to join the Pigmasks, so I can help you and this world!" Claus was pleading by this point, not wanting Lucas to hurt him too after everything he's been through on this island.

"The Pigmasks have done nothing _but_ hurt everyone in Tazmily, us included," Lucas said. "And look at yourself, you've practically became their volunteered human chimera. Look at that arm and your eye, you've become a chimera, Claus. You're not my brother anymore, you're just a brainwashed monster doing the Pigmasks' will. I'm afraid we'll have to kill you now, because the Claus I knew is long gone."

Lucas began to smile more, turning into the same creepy smile he's been seeing on everyone since he got on this accursed island.

"N-no, Lucas. Please, I didn't do anything! I didn't want to hurt anyone, Lucas, especially you!" Claus began backing away when he saw the three people behind Lucas was Kumatora, Duster, and Boney.

"H-hey, I don't want to fight! Not now!" Claus said. He couldn't move at this point, not knowing if he should run or try to face the four of them and persuade them that he wasn't bad.

* * *

To his surprise, Lucas himself stepped back and behind Kumatora, Duster and Boney, almost as if he was hesitant on fighting Claus himself. Claus frowned as he watched his brother disappear behind the three. He expected Kumatora to make a witty retort at him, but she stayed silent, so did Duster and Boney.

Then they did something really strange… they posed…? Why were they posing? Duster was in the middle while Kumatora and Boney were posing on each side of him.

"What… are you doing?" Claus dared to ask.

They still didn't answer however, still stuck in that same pose. Claus tried walking towards them, when they suddenly let out a freezing attack aimed right for him! Yelping, Claus only just managed to jump out of the way before he got hit. He recognized the attack as PK Freeze beta. When Claus glanced back at them however, they were still stuck in that same pose.

 _W-what's going on? Why are they doing that?_ Claus thought to himself before thinking of giving them a taste of their own medicine. He didn't want to hurt them though, so he aimed a small PK Freeze alpha in Kumatora's direction. When it hit her though… she didn't even flinch. Just stayed there in that same pose, as if she hadn't even been hit.

"H-huh? That didn't do anything?" Claus said nervously. The three of them shot out another attack, this one a volley of flames headed right in Claus's direction. He jumped out of the way, but not before his body was briefly engulfed in flames. He hissed and patted out the fire.

"Grr… PK Fire!" Claus, still wary of hurting them, shot out an alpha version of the attack. Unlike PK Freeze, this attack actually looked like it hurt them… sort of. Duster, Kumatora, and Boney all flinched and trembled a bit, but quickly got back into their pose.

"Geez, these guys are almost like robots…" Claus hissed as they continued to stare at him without souls. "I think I liked it better when Kumatora trash talked me…"

Suddenly they fired PK Thunder gamma on him, his helmet warned him of incoming three powerful lightning bolts coming down at him. Claus yelped as he moved quickly to try and avoid being hit. He managed to avoid the first lightning bolt, but the second one struck his metallic arm and he hissed in pain and the final lightning bolt got him in the back. Claus yelped in pain as it zapped his body and he hissed, falling to his hands and knees in pain. He dug out the mushroom he kept with him in his pocket and took a bite out of it. He didn't eat the whole thing, just took a small bite, which was enough to replenish his body a bit.

 _These Energizing Mushrooms are a lifesaver, I probably should've packed more with me._

Claus put the rest of it back into his pocket in case he needed it again.

"Alright, for some reason you three are acting like robots and using PSI," Claus said as he activated his Thunder Striker, figuring they may be immune to his PSI Cannon, so melee attacks might be the best way to go. Even if they were immune to lightning, the sword can still hit pretty hard. "Maybe you really are just robots and Lucas is brainwashed. In that case I won't hold back!"

Claus charged at the three as they were still in their pose, making it easy for him to slash at them with his Thunder Striker. Their skin was a lot tougher than he thought it would be, increasing his belief that they were robots made to only look like Kumatora, Duster and Boney. He did a combo on them with his sword, trying to damage them as much as possible before they could try to hit him with another PSI attack.

Duster faced him and the three shot Fire gamma at him, causing Claus to have to back off and roll over on the candy ground to put out the flames. "Ugh… good thing Dr. Andonuts made this coat fireproof…"

The trio then crumbled down from their pose and looked vulnerable. Claus figured maybe now was the best time to go on the offensive.

"PK Thunder beta!"

Using his Thunder Striker, he shot out a very powerful lightning at them, two bolts struck at the robotic trio, shocking them, before he charged in with his Thunder Striker.

"Too tough… Defense Down!" a blue aura surrounded the trio, making them weaker to take hits. Claus managed to get in a few hits, but he could still feel his attacks hardly hurting them at all as they stayed in the same position.

"Just what are these?" Claus grumbled.

Claus stepped back and as soon as they did, they stood back up and strike a pose again. This time Kumatora was in the middle.

"Oh this again? Fine! PK Fire!" He shot out flames at them… only for it to do absolutely nothing. "What!?"

The three of them retaliated with their own PK Fire, a gamma version of it too. Claus was engulfed more in the flames this time before he managed to run out, growling and trying to pat the searing flames away from his burning coat.

"S-so PK Fire doesn't do anything now? Fine, PK Thunder!" Claus yelled, using the PSI that he hadn't tried yet. He had used a beta version, but only one one bolt managed to hit them… and did absolutely nothing.

"W-what!? Again!?" Claus cried out, not knowing what was happening. He could already feel his head beating as he start to feel mentally exhausted. But he didn't want to waste the rest of his Energizing Mushroom, not yet.

The trio then shot out a powerful PK Freeze at him, looking to be beta level. The ice crystals shot at him and he cringed as his body began freezing in the ice. Claus slash through the ice with his Thunder Striker to keep it from completely freezing him. _Their immunity seems to change depending on who's in the middle of that pose… Fire worked when Duster was in the middle, but not now, and Thunder didn't do anything either… how about Ice?_

Claus dared to run closer to the three robots before putting out his free hand. "PK Freeze gamma!

Using a much more powerful PK Freeze than he ever used before, Claus covered them in ice crystals, doing heavy damage. The three flinched as that's probably as much of an emotion he'll get out of them. Claus smiled when he saw that worked, but he knew he better not recklessly use up his PSI. He charged in for another combo of his sword attacks, doing more damage on them.

The trio shot out Thunder beta on him, using two bolts of lightning to get Claus off them and it was impossible for him to dodge due to his own lightning sword. The trio was then covered in blue aura that was different from when Claus used Defense Down on them. "No! They can use Defense Up!?"

Claus glared as he was very limited to what he can do without assist PSI. _Oh Lucas, why can't you help me? Oh right… he hates me… I really could use Lifeup or Offense Up or even PSI Shield or SOMETHING!_

"PK Freeze alpha!" Claus was trying to not to use up his PSI so he used alpha instead of beta or gamma.

The trio barely flinched at this before they used PK Freeze beta back at him. Claus felt his body grow cold with the ice crystal trying to pierce him.

"Gah! I wish PK Love could hit them! … Wait… can it?" Claus wondered to himself, he hadn't _tried_ using PK Love on them… "PK Love!" he used the alpha since it was less costly than beta.

The PK Love exploded in a hexagonal fashoin in the trio's face, and it surprisingly worked to his shock. They were immune to just about all but one offensive elemental PSI, but PK Love can hit them anyways. Their form crumbled down.

"Yes!" Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Claus quickly redrew his Thunder Striker and closed in for a few hits. He noticed that with each hit they seemed to flinch a tiny bit more, barely noticeable but still there. The three of them started to rumble together, and Claus backed away as they stood back up, posing once again. This time, Boney was in the middle.

"Boney?" _Okay… So fire worked with Duster, ice worked with Kumatora… then Boney should be…_ Claus looked over at the three of them.

They hadn't attacked yet, so he quickly took the opening to use one PSI attack.

"PK Thunder!" This was also done at an alpha level so he wouldn't get too mentally tired.

Luckily, the one lightning bolt that came down struck at them, and he saw them visibly flinch from the attack. Other than PK Love, PK Thunder was his most powerful offensive PSI due to the extra boost it got from his Thunder Striker.

The trio didn't look too good despite being robots, in fact Claus would've thought he'd see them smoking or sparking by now, yet strangely they're not. They fired PK Fire beta at him, burning the field around him. Claus hissed as he shot out another PK Thunder at them before going in for another combo attack.

By now, both sides were exhausted. Claus could tell that his helmet and synthetic eye weren't analyzing anything again, meaning he was getting low on PSI. The trio were just standing there, as if they were trying to concentrate. _Please… don't tell me they have Lifeup or something…_

But something more horrifying happened. There was a cloud of shadow looming over him from the orange sky. Looking up, Claus paled when he sensed powerful PSI in that cloud. "Oh… no…" And the cloud began raining down star shaped power on him! It was similar to Lucas's PK Love gamma, only this one was much more powerful and devastating. Claus screamed as he tried to play dodge star with the powerful PSI. Unfortunately he couldn't dodge all of the Starstorm raining down on him and his body was pelted to the ground.

After that massive attack, Claus considered himself fortunate or unfortunate to still be alive after that. He could swear everything in his body was broken. He struggled just to reach into his pocket to take out the Energizing Mushroom, praying with all his might that the trio didn't attack or thought he was dead. He took another bite from the mushroom, he actually ate almost the entire top of the mushroom because his body was in so much pain. Thankfully it was enough to get him moving again, but not enough to completely heal his wounds and PSI. He put the rest of the mushroom back into his pocket in case of another emergency.

"Okay… you want to play meteor smash with me? Fine, we'll do it your way," Claus hissed at the three as they seem to be concentrating, probably to try and use that meteor or starstorm attack again. Claus closed his eyes as he remembered pulling that last Needle did at least grant him a new level of power with his PK Love.

"PK Love Gamma!" Claus shouted as the blue energy shot out from his chest and into the sky before it exploded and started raining down in hexagonal pieces similar to that starstorm earlier, just to a lesser extent. The PK Love all aimed and pelted the trio robots into the ground.

The trio crumbled down and looked all cracked. Then they gave a smile before they struck another pose. Claus blinked at them before they suddenly crumbled down into nothing but rubble. With them gone, he could see his brother Lucas again, standing there as if waiting.

"Well done, Claus. You just killed my friends," Lucas said as he clapped. "You sure have gotten strong."

Claus blinked again, realizing at what he had just done and looked down at his hands in horror. Then he remembered how weird the three of them were acting and shook his head. "N-no… no, that wasn't them, Lucas. That couldn't have been them. They were too sturdy to have possibly been them! They… they were probably robots or something."

"Take a good look at yourself and tell me who's the _real_ robot around here," Lucas said to him. "It seems you don't need me anymore… so I might as well just crawl into a hole and disappear forever. I'm sure that'll make you happy, you already let it happen to Mom."

Claus felt a pang of guilt in his chest again that quickly replaced the satisfaction he felt at defeating the trio earlier. "N-no, don't go Lucas! I don't want you to go, I care about you! Please Lucas!" Claus began running towards Lucas. As he got closer to him, it looked like he was starting to… glow? His body started glow even brighter and Claus began to worry that his little brother was starting to ever so slowly disappear, to join their mother in the afterlife.

"Goodbye Claus. I'm going to where Mom is now," Lucas said as he waved to him and began closing his eyes.

"No! _LUCAS!_ " Claus leaped forward and grabbed Lucas's hands. His body was glowing brightly now in front of Claus, as if he was just on the verge of disappearing. Claus had to try and hold back tears. They had lost their mother and there was no way he was losing Lucas now. "Lucas, please… Come back." Claus gently pulled on Lucas's hands, but they barely budged.

* * *

"H-huh?" Claus said to himself, starting to pull on Lucas's hands some more. "Lucas! Lucas please don't do this! I'm sorry you felt that I betrayed you, but please don't go!"

Claus pulled harder, wanting to get Lucas out of the ground that he was apparently stuck in. He felt his PK Love flashing in his hands. "H-huh?" _Why's my PK Love reacting? … Is it because of Lucas?_

"H-hey! Stop! You're pulling-!" He heard a familiar voice shouting behind him, but he didn't stop trying to pull his brother out.

"Go away! I'm trying to save someone here!" He shouted back, turning to see a dragon, an ogre, a small alligator beside them and… a… Magypsy? Well it appears to be a Magypsy, but shorter than the others he's seen. _Is that Mixolydia?_ Normally Claus would be alarmed that there were two monsters and a small vicious looking alligator looking at him, but the Magypsy kinda downplayed them. But he was too tired and stressed to really care. He still had Lucas's hand in his own.

"You again!?" The dragon was the first to speak. "Just what do you think you're doing pulling _another_ Needle!? Get away from there or I won't hesitate to burn your butt away from that thing!"

"I don't see any Needle! How would a dragon know what that is anyways? Did your little Magypsy friend tell you about it?" Claus hissed, ready to defend himself and Lucas if necessary.

"A dragon!? Who are you calling a-!"

"Dragon…?" The short Magypsy said out loud in a pondering tone, interrupting the dragon. Claus saw the Magypsy's eyes wander towards his pocket, where a small portion of his Energizing Mushroom was sticking out. "Guys… h-he ate the mushrooms. _He's_ the one who ate those half-eaten mushrooms I saw on the beach!"

"What's it to you? Am I not allowed to eat those blessed thing?" Claus snapped, using one of his hands to pick up the Energizing Mushroom in his pocket that was half eaten. "It saved my life when those robots kept attacking me! But fine, I'll pay you back later when I get my brother out of here!"

"The commander has a brother?" The ogre said curiously.

"He must still be hallucinating. He's probably gonna pull out the Needle!" The small Magypsy said. Claus saw that they were getting riled up and were probably gonna try to stop him really soon.

" _I'll stop him!"_ The little alligator barked… yes, it barked like a dog. It ran at him, ready to bite. Claus wasn't having that, he used his free hand to drop the mushroom to the ground and summoned his Thunder Striker.

"Leave me alone!" He shouted. "PK Thunder!"

Claus summoned a powerful lightning bolt that struck all four of them, it was powerful enough to knock three of them unconscious; the little alligator, the quiet ogre and the loud mouth dragon, however when it struck the Magyspy the lightning stopped for a second.

"Huh?" And it shot back at him. "Ah!" he was zapped by his own lightning and fell to his knees, but didn't let go of his brother's hand.

"W-what? H-how?" He noticed something shiny on the Magypsy's chest, a badge pinned on its shirt. "... You have… THAT device?" Claus cursed his bad luck.

The Magypsy looked just as surprised as to what had happened. "My badge can do that…?" it said to itself before looking back at Claus. "Please, stop pulling the Needle! Or… whoever it is you think you're pulling! You're hallucinating right now and you need to stop!"

"And why should I believe you? You Magypsies are untrustworthy!" Claus snapped. "I'm not hallucinating, this entire island is just cursed! And I'm not going to stop until I get my brother out of this mess he put himself in because of my stupidity!" He began pulling again, Lucas was starting to become loose from the ground.

"N-no, stop!" Claus could still hear the Magypsy's voice from behind him. "I-I don't know who your brother is, or that you even had one, but you're still just hallucinating, and it's from that mushroom you ate! You're actually pulling a Needle, and you have to stop!"

Claus hesitated, he wasn't sure what to believe, and the last thing he wanted to do was pull _another_ Needle. He frowned as he looked at the Magypsy and at Lucas… if he really was hallucinating, then it would explain a lot of things, but then who was he _really_ talking to? "I-I…"

"I'm sorry… I'm sure we'll see each other again…" Lucas suddenly said, catching Claus's attention. "Goodbye…"

"N-no! Lucas!" He yelled, shocking the Magypsy behind him into silence. "I won't let you go!" He pulled again and this time managed to pull Lucas all the way out of the ground, but the strange part was... he suddenly disappeared as soon as he did. "L-Lucas?"

All around him, the world began to shake and tremble, with a familiar heartbeat that could be heard emanating from deep below the ground. Just as this was starting though, Claus heard the Magypsy's voice behind him speak again, "Y-your brother… his name is L-Lucas?"

* * *

Claus couldn't respond though as the trembles became worse and the world darkened around him. Everything was still in it's weird neon colors, but they weren't as noticeable anymore now with the world darkened. The hole in the ground where Claus had pulled Lucas out of the ground widened, and a large spout of black fumes erupted from below. Claus stepped back from the ominous looking cloud of darkness as the heartbeat below continued to beat. Within a few moments a bright flash of light emitted, causing Claus to shut his eyes. When he opened them again… everything was back to normal. The sky was blue, the grass was green, the trees were green, the ground was brown, everything was its proper color again.

"... That was… whoa... what a trip," Claus said to himself, wondering if that really was the island or was he really just hallucinating that entire time. "Hmm?" He looked down at the hole to see the familiar purple bubbling misty substance. "... Oh I give _up_." he groaned. "I've practically just doomed the world."

"You just… pulled another Needle." Claus looked over to see that Lucas, the _real_ Lucas- or is it?- was now standing where the Magypsy had been standing. "And you called that Needle your brother 'Lucas'..."

Claus looked at Lucas skeptically, expecting him to start saying how much he hated him and how he was betrayed or start smiling that creepy eerie smile. "... Hey! If you start smiling at me and saying weird things I won't hesitate to defend myself! Although by this point I wouldn't mind crawling into a hole and die myself…"

"Smiling and saying weird things?" Lucas said, frowning to himself. "So you really _were_ hallucinating… W-what did you see in that Needle… Commander?" When Lucas called Claus 'Commander', he sounded almost doubtful. Like he suspected Claus of being something else.

"... You're _really_ Lucas?" Claus asked him, still looking wary. He looked at the other three he struck down earlier… they were Kumatora, Duster and Boney, and they looked real, not at all like those robots he was fighting with. Claus began to pale as he realized what he had said during his hallucination trip. _Oh no… please tell me this is not Lucas!_

The Lucas in front of Claus looked a little confused at his question. "Um… yes, I'm Lucas. You've met me before, unless... y-you saw me again in your hallucinations?" There was a distinct suspicion in his voice, but not an accusing one, it almost sounded hopeful and that hurt Claus even more.

"N-no, I haven't… I uh… was talking about a different Lucas! It's a common name you know!" Claus quickly said, trying to do damage control. The last thing he wanted was for the hallucination to come true.

Lucas looked a little down at Claus's response, but was still frowning slightly in suspicion. "I don't remember anyone else in Tazmily having the name 'Lucas'... What did he look like?"

"He uh… has brown hair, wears a white shirt with red sleeves, and kinda energetic and a bit happy-go-lucky," Claus said rather quickly before he realized he just described Fuel.

Lucas seemed to have realized this too, frowning even more. "That kinda sounds like Fuel…"

"W-well it's not!" Claus snapped before sighing tiredly. "I'm just so tired… I don't want to do this anymore…" he was so tempted to just take off his helmet right then and there and show Lucas who he truly was, but the only thing stopping him was his fear, his fear that his brother would hate him for being the commander of the Pigmasks. "I can't even protect the Needles, all I did was make a bigger mess of things! Now there's only two left and either you pull them or I do, something _always_ makes me pull them! I'm a traitor to the Pigmasks, to everyone in Tazmily village and even to you."

"Me?" Lucas looked even more confused at that last part. "Why are you a traitor to _me_? I've never met or known you before other than that brief time in Club Titiboo. Unless… you _are_ someone I know?" He sounded a little more hopeful again as he asked that last question, the suspicion coming back again.

"N-no… but it's just you… when we were fighting… your face looked like you were betrayed… a-and it haunted me," Claus admitted, trying not to look into his brother's eyes in fear he might figure it out.

"You're not making much sense," Lucas said. He was frowning and staring at Claus, but his gaze felt piercing to the nervous, lying boy. "Just… _who_ are you? Why would the Pigmasks choose someone so young for their commander?"

"What? I'm not young, what makes you think I'm young?" Claus quickly asked, shocked that Lucas found out he was a kid and not a short man. "They wouldn't choose a kid to be their commander without good reason!"

"I… don't know," Lucas said, starting to sound more and more doubtful with these questions. "We were forced to meet you a lot of times, and every time we do I couldn't help but think you _are_ a kid. Maybe around my age… Wouldn't that be weird? That two kids have to fight each other against something as big as this?"

"... What are you saying?" Claus asked as he narrowed his eyes. "Do you know something?" _I guess it didn't help that I practically just blurted out that Lucas is my brother earlier in front of him…_ Claus looked at the shiny badge Lucas wore, and it was clean. _That badge… was that the same one I gave to him on our birthday? How did he get it to work?_

"N-no, I don't know something." Lucas seemed deep in thought about something, all the while still staring at Claus while he did. Claus felt nervous and couldn't meet his gaze, afraid that Lucas would find his identity out… if he hadn't already. "But… I don't know, you kind of sound, look and act like a kid too. And… would we really have to keep fighting like this if you were a kid? It doesn't really feel right…"

"Our age doesn't matter, Lucas. Enemies are enemies…" Claus said softly, looking down at the grass. "But I… I don't like being your enemy. It's just… I have a duty to protect this world, and you're trying to destroy it by waking up the Dragon. I have to stop you, you know… but so far all I've done is make the progress go faster… and hurt the people I lo-" he quickly stopped himself there, almost giving himself away again.

Lucas tilted his head at Claus. "You know… you're not so bad for a commander of a big army. Kumatora is always saying bad things about you, but you probably have your reasons too, right? Like how I didn't really want to do this… but I have to if I want to help this world."

"How is this helping the world? When you wake up the Dragon it will destroy everything and everyone in it before it fixes it," Claus argued. "We're trying to rebuild the world so everyone can have a chance to live."

"But… what if the world gets to a point where even all this technology and stuff that you have isn't enough? The world would have to be reborn then… a-and… I'd like to believe that if I put my heart into it enough, the Dark Dragon wouldn't kill anyone…" Lucas said. Yet he still seemed like he took both of these ideas into consideration.

"You have a good heart Lucas, I don't doubt that," Claus said, sounding tired. "But… I can't just give up either… Lucas… I… I always wanted to do something great for this world, ever since we…"

* * *

Before Claus could continue the other three began to regain consciousness. He gasped when he saw Boney groaning and slowly getting back on all fours. Duster was waking up too, but the one he was mainly worried about was Kumatora.

Boney didn't notice the two yet, but he stretched out and smelled the air. _"Hmm? This smell…"_

Claus quickly stood up. "I-I have to go."

"H-huh?" Lucas said, looking a little upset and started walking towards Claus. "But where can you even go? Your flying wings don't look like they're working."

"I just have to," Claus quickly said as he began backing away. "I… I can't stay here."

Duster, already up and saw them, stood in front of the commander. "Hey… where do you think you're going?"

"J-just let me leave!" Claus pushed him away to try and get out of there.

"Hey! W-wait, I still-!" Lucas tried walking closer to Claus, but he just kept backing away. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Kumatora was starting to wake up too, the last person he wanted to put up right now.

"Ugh… what's with all the racket?" Kumatora said as she let herself up, looking around. "Wait… You! You really did pull the Needle, didn't you!?" At that point she was wide awake and already on her feet, looking at Claus with fury.

"So what if I did? What's it matter to you if I pulled the Needle or Lucas pulled it?" Claus snapped back. "Either way we're all all going to die once that Dragon wakes up!" He turned around and began running away from them.

Boney began barking as the boy ran off. _"We can't let him go! I smelled Claus's scent on him! He must know where Claus is!"_

Claus could hear all four of them from behind him quickly making chase. He stole a quick glance to see that Boney was already catching up _fast_. He didn't really have any other options and even though it was tempting… he still didn't want to show his identity. Not now, not like this. So he ran over to the edge of the cliff and without hesitation leaped off, heading straight for the crashing waves below him.

"H-he jumped!" Lucas said in shock as all four of them watched him fall.

"Grr… he got away, and we were so close this time." Kumatora was growling quietly.

"We could try going after him," Duster suggested.

" _Where is he going? We have to talk to him, I smelled Claus's smell on him,"_ Boney barked to the other two PSI users.

"You did?" Lucas said. Instead of saying anything, he just went back to thinking about what he and Claus had been talking about earlier. Lucas had a lot to talk about with the other three later...

* * *

Claus himself was trying to swim up to the surface of the sea, but his tired body was making it hard for him to move much. He began sinking into the ocean floor.

"Commander!" He barely opened his synthetic eye as the water didn't sting it as much as his organic eye, seeing the Navy Squeals coming towards him. "Are you alright?"

Claus just gritted his teeth and could hardly move.

"He doesn't look too good. We better get him back to Tazmily," The other Navy Squeal said in concern.

"We'll need an oxygen machine to transport him that far!" The first Navy Squeal said. "And you remember what happened last time that happened?"

Claus's eyes widened at the words 'oxygen machine'. These must be the same Navy Squeals that he fried earlier today.

"We have no choice, he's already hurt and we can't have him drown on us!" The Navy Squeal argued. "Come on Commander, we need to get you some help."

They carried the weakened boy across the ocean floor, and practically forcing him to 'kiss' those mermen along the way. Claus was too weak and too low on PSI to fight back, all he could do was shut his eyes and imagine they were just machines and not mermen.

Eventually they finally made it back to shore, the two Navy Squeals helping the young commander onto the shores of the Cerulean Beach.

"We're here…"

"T-thank you…" Claus muttered to them weakly.

"And goodnight," Someone else said.

Before Claus and the Navy Squeals could do anything, a red aura surrounded them. Claus's eyes widen when he looked up to see that black Pigmask there. "Y-you…!?"

The Navy Squeals beside him suddenly lost consciousness and passed out onto the sand. Claus fell to his knees and tried to reach for his Thunder Striker, but his arm didn't want to move. "W-why…?" he growled at the black Pigmask.

"Another Needle has been pulled, I felt it. Yet you still keep trying to stop Lucas?" the black Pigmask said. Given Claus's state, the black Pigmask was ready to knock him out at any time.

"I… I have to… he'll… he'll doom us all… if he succeeds!" Claus argued back, his vision beginning to blur and his head spinning.

"You look tired, Commander. Lucas is already close to pulling the last of the seven Needles. I think it's time to say goodnight." Before Claus could resist, the black Pigmask held up his hand and a red aura surrounded the boy. It didn't exactly hurt him, but it caused his vision to blur and fade. Within a moment, Claus collapsed unconscious on the beach.

As he did so, the helmet on Claus's head came off his head and rolled away. The black Pigmask stared at Claus as his helmet rolled away.

"... It… it can't be…!" The black Pigmask said in shock as he stared at the now helmetless boy.


	34. Chapter 34: Saying Goodbye to Tazmily

**DarkFoxKit: *looks around before walking out towards the camera* Alright, so finally I'm updating this after leaving you guys on a cliffhanger. And on the first day of Mar- … wait… what? *looks at the calendar* … It's still February? … Nobody told me it was a leap year! Hmmm… *notices someone wasn't here* I'll be riiiiight back folks. *goes off camera for a minute… then heard a loud sound and a lot of trembling.***

 **Donfyre: *is dragged back on camera by a certain Fox pulling me in with a rope with swirls in my eyes* Ugggh… y-you could've just SAID… that we had the AN now…**

 **DarkFoxKit: I wanted to make sure you'd come right away. Besides, you were relaxing on top of the pool. You're always hard to get when you're relaxing on the freaking pool! Now say hi to the readers!**

 **Donfyre: *is grumbling* Can't get a few minutes of relaxation time… W-well, hiya readers! Welcome back to another chapter! It's been… two weeks since the last update. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: I apologize that we've been slowing down with the updates, but both of us have been busy with other things lately. Don't worry though, this story has already been written out, it's just a matter of when we can do the AN without overstressing ourselves. *is hugging the tied up Wooper* Isn't that right, Fyre?**

 **Donfyre: *is huggled by the fox* R-right… schedule's and stuff, especially working around my… hectic schedule is sometimes a problem for updates and stuff. ^^; So if we don't update then that might be one of the reasons why.**

 **DarkFoxKit: But hey, at least we're still updating. *climbs on top of Fyre's head while he was still tied up* You make a nice chair this way, Fyre, maybe I should tie you up more often. :3**

 **Donfyre: H-hey, don't you do enough stuff to me already!? DX *shakes my head around with the fox on top***

 **DarkFoxKit: *Is still happily sitting on top of Fyre* Now then, let's get on with the reviews and the chapter, shall we?**

 **Donfyre: *is pouting* F-fiiiiine.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Good~ *wraps her tail around his mouth* You just relax now.**

* * *

 **Shimo no ko: Yup! That was pretty funny, my co-writer here was laughing at how their poses were, especially with Boney. XD And Lucas and Claus may not be the best liars in the world, but at least they were raised to be honest. And well, the black Pigmask wasn't entirely sure if that was the case, denial can be pretty powerful. And… oooh, Fyre, looks like someone just wished you a happy birthday, even though it's been a while ago. :3**

 **Donfyre: Mrmrmmph. *pushes Fox's tail away by shaking my head* Thankees! c: *looks back at Fox* And I know you want me to relax, but I'm already tied up, n-now you're wrapping your tail around my mouth? ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yus. c: Oh, and it looks like the next review is talking to you.**

 **Donfyre: Hmm? Oh, alrighty!**

 **Joltik12: You dunno how to PM people? Well, the easiest way is to just go to a person's account and there's a PM button right above their profile pic. Anyways, glad we gave you a nice first impression to this site! :D**

 **DarkFoxKit: We're just gonna let you see how this chapter turns out first. :P *wraps my tail around Fyre's mouth* Now you relax!**

 **sunflowermaiden210: True, I rather people read through my Fanfiction before they get spoiled.**

 **Guest: Who knows. :3**

 **FanofFiction123 : Getting excited, are we? c: And yup, it was no secret what was going on when Claus was pulling 'Lucas' out of the ground. And wow, Undertale oneshots? That should be fun. I take it you really like Sans? ;P**

* * *

 **Donfyre: *shakes my head again as Fox uncurls her tail* Huh, is that everything already? There wasn't much for two weeks, but I guess the pace is just slowing down a bit. Now can you untie me, Fox? ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: … Hmm… sure. *Uses claws to cut the rope, before she walks off camera for a minute. Fyre could hear an ominous laughter.***

 **Donfyre: Uh… *stares nervously in the direction where Fox was* What are you doooing…?**

 ***DarkFoxKit jumped at Fyre and pounces him. The camera was shoved and scuffled around. The readers could hear a lot of noises in the background. The camera was soon picked up, showing Fyre now tied up with blankets.***

 **DarkFoxKit: Awww, you look so cute all wrapped up in a blanket like that. w**

 **Donfyre: Meep! *struggles in the blankets, but just succeeds in rolling around in circles* I-I thought I just asked you to untie me!**

 **DarkFoxKit: And I did. Now you're wrapped up all snug in the blanket like a cocoon. *plops down on top of Fyre* This will be a good spot to sleep. Welp, I am DarkFoxKit and this little blanket cocoon is Donfyre, and we look forward to hearing from you! -w-**

 **Donfyre: Urk. *blushes as the fox sprawled out on top of him comfortably* W-well, this is another embarrassing way - for me, at least - to end the AN. Well, we both hope to hear from you guys and we'll see ya next time! Where Fox will have another diabolical thing planned for me… ^^;**

* * *

 **Chapter 34: Saying Goodbye to Tazmily**

" _Lucas? You've been awfully quiet since that Masked Man jumped into the ocean."_ Boney whined in concern for the boy.

Lucas was fiddling with the half eaten mushroom the Masked Man dropped earlier. Duster and Kumatora were discussing where they should go next.

"H-huh? Oh, it's uh… nothing, Boney. Just thinking about something…" Lucas just muttered in response. As he was playing around with the mushroom, Kumatora looked back over at Lucas.

"Hey, so… let me get this straight; while we were unconscious, that Masked Man really did pull that Needle? And you watched him the entire time because that badge saved you from the attack?"

"Yeah," Lucas just answered back, still occupied with his own thoughts.

"Well why didn't you stop him then!? _You're_ supposed to be the one pulling these Needles, Lucas, but the Masked Man has already pulled three of them! I wouldn't be surprised if he had a heart of pure evil and those dang Pigsnots really just want this world to go to-"

"Kumatora." Duster slightly admonished, getting her to calm down a little bit. "We don't know much about the Masked Man, but if he's a kid like Lucas is then we don't have any reason to believe his heart is as evil as you think it is."

Boney gave another whine. _"I just don't understand… if he's really nice then why would he take Claus? I mean why else would he have Claus's smell on him? He had to have taken him somewhere, right?"_

Lucas looked at the hole with the misty substance bubbling out. He kept replaying that scene where the Masked Man shouted for his brother named Lucas while he was pulling the Needle.

"Lucas? I don't know what went on between you two, but we have to get off this island and get to Argilla Pass." Duster said softly to the distracted boy.

"Huh? Oh, right. That's where Phrygia said the next Needle would be," Lucas said mindlessly. _Should I tell them? That man… or kid? I-it's almost possible that he really is…_

" _Lucas, please talk to us. What's wrong?"_ Boney begged and whine, he didn't like it when something's wrong with Lucas or Claus as he cares for the two boys almost like they were his own pups, even if he does tease them a lot.

Lucas looked over at Boney, seeing how concerned he was. He supposed that he had known Boney long enough for him to be able to handle what had happened between him and the Masked Man. "Oh… well… while you guys were unconscious, and that Masked Man… or Commander, while he was hallucinating… He kept shouting at the Needle and he called it Lucas, saying that it was his brother… You think that could be…?"

" _The Commander has a brother named Lucas?"_ Boney blinked before understanding what Lucas meant. _"... You think… he might be… Claus?"_

Lucas saw that Kumatora and Duster were still discussing their next plan of attack. He looked back at Boney and nodded his head. "Yes. I mean, when I think about it, he really does remind me a lot of Claus. But if he really _was_ Claus… I don't know why he would keep going against us like that. I don't like to think that we have to be fighting like this as enemies either…"

Boney frowned and whined a bit. _"Maybe he's not Claus… I mean Claus said he was only the waterboy of the Pigmasks, and why would they make him their commander of all things? I mean he's a bit of a troublemaker and he's only 13 years old, and the Masked Man can use powerful PSI. Last time I checked, Claus can't even use PSI to even talk to me."_

Lucas gave a disappointed sigh. "I guess you might be right… But didn't you say that the Commander even smelled like Claus too? I don't see what reason a big Commander of an army has to do with a simple waterboy…"

" _I don't know, maybe he wanted to rescue Claus too? He did say he at least knew the boy…"_ Boney suggested.

"Lucas," Kumatora called. "What's with you? Don't tell me you're going soft on me now. What did the Masked Man say to you?"

"H-huh?" _I… guess it wouldn't hurt to tell Duster and Kumatora too. I was probably gonna tell both of them soon anyways._ Lucas thought to himself before deciding to just admit what had happened. "Well… I told this to Boney already. But while the three of you were unconscious, the Masked Man - I think he was hallucinating - was shouting at the Needle, calling it his brother and saying that his name was… Lucas."

That got Kumatora and Duster quiet and thinking.

"A brother named Lucas…? Are you sure it's not someone else named Lucas?" Duster asked. "Because unless you have a long lost brother none of us knew about, I don't see how that's possible."

"Or… he's Claus…" Kumatora said slowly, trying to process this.

"What? But how can it be Claus?" Duster asked, confused. "You guys said he doesn't even have any PSI aura!"

Lucas wanted to think of every possibility that was out there just to believe that maybe this Masked Man really _was_ Claus. "M-maybe… maybe Claus got PSI really late or something… or do you think he tried to hide it from us? I'm not sure how he could have done that… b-but it's possible. Or…"

Kumatora shook her head. "Well, even if it _was_ Claus… he's working against us now, Lucas. You still have a job to do and that's to pull those Needles before the Pigsnots stop you. Or before that Masked Man decides to pull another one."

Lucas looked down at Kumatora's response. He was afraid that she would say that. If Claus was really the Commander… he didn't know if he would be able to bring himself to fight him.

"Okay, let's just calm down," Duster said. "We don't know for sure if he really is Claus or not. Let's just say he isn't, okay? I'm sure Claus is fine wherever he is. But we really need to get off this island and get back to Tazmily. If I remember right, Argilla Pass is in the mountains."

"I think… that's where Ionia lives too," Kumatora said. "We better get going, but I'm going to go pick up Mixolydia's memento before we leave."

"No need." They turned to see the octopus from Mixolydia's house earlier, he put down some black lipstick on the ground. "Before Mixolydia disappeared, she told me to give you this and to give you a ride back to Tazmily."

" _Huh… there's our problem solved! I'd prefer a boat or something, but it's better than swimming or worse… Kumatora's awful teleport PSI,"_ Boney said, whining at the thought.

"Can all of us really fit on you?" Duster asked the octopus.

"Oh don't worry, I've carried a lot more people than just the four of you before," The octopus said. "Just climb onto my head and we'll hit the waters."

Lucas and the others shrugged as they climbed onto Octo's head, Boney almost slipped off but managed to get on.

* * *

Octo jumped into the ocean and began swimming towards Tazmily. It was a rather relaxing trip back.

As they neared Tazmily, Lucas started to wonder if Tazmily had changed in the short time they were gone. Tazmily already had a lot of people gone and moved to New Pork City last time they were there. So how would the town be like now?

"Alright, here's your stop," Octo announced as they reached the shores of the beach. "I'll be seeing you all later." he said as they jumped off him and onto the sands of the Cerulean Beach. Octo turned and headed back into the sea as the four of them strolled into Tazmily.

"Is it just me or does this place feel almost like a ghost town?" Kumatora said as they looked around. The houses were so empty of life that it was creepy.

Boney whined. _"I guess they've all moved to that big city we've been hearing about."_

"... I wonder if my father is still here…?" Duster questioned silently.

"I'm… going to see if Dad is still here," Lucas said. "We'll head to Argilla Pass after I talk to him, okay?"

"Sure, go ahead Lucas," Kumatora said, surprisingly lenient this time. "Me and Duster will keep exploring around Tazmily, there should still be some people hanging around."

"I want to see if my father is still here… and ask him a few things," Duster said. "I'm sure he'll be happy to see the Princess is still with me too."

Lucas nodded his head, saying goodbye to the two of them and began walking to where his house was with Boney following close behind, as he insisted on coming along too.

* * *

When they walked into the village, all they saw was that girl who always talked so much and Mr. Pusher himself standing in the middle of town, otherwise there was nobody else out and about. Lucas's heart sank when he saw Abbey and Abbot's house was 'for sale'. He saw Mr. Lighter and Fuel heading to the train station. _They're leaving too?_

"If only I wasn't the Mayor of this dinky little village. Then I could go to New Pork City and make it big," Lucas heard Mr. Pusher grumbling to himself.

Lucas and Boney kept going until they made it back home, seeing it the same as ever. Lucas knocked on the door and waited for Flint to answer.

Sure enough, Flint was there to answer the door. He seemed both surprised and happy to see him home. "Ah, Lucas, you're home again? It's always nice to see you coming to see me once in awhile. And there's someone here that I think you'd want to meet too."

Lucas gave an inquiring look. "Someone I want to meet…?"

* * *

Boney walked into the house as Lucas and Flint was talking. _"That smell, it smells like seawater and… Claus? CLAUS!?"_

Lucas heard Boney scream out 'Claus' and saw the dog excitedly run to where he and Claus's bedroom was. "W-wait… Claus is here!?" Lucas quickly ran inside straight for their bedroom.

The boy didn't stop until he and Boney reached their bed, where they saw Claus asleep. Claus looked messy and hurt, but he was in his same old striped shirt.

Boney jumped on the bed and began licking the sleeping boy's face. Claus didn't stir but moaned a bit from Boney's licking.

"I found him unconscious on the beach. Apparently the ocean washed him up on the shore," Flint explained as he came into the room.

"The ocean… B-but, they said he was near Tanetane… He couldn't have _swam_ all that way… c-could he?" Lucas said, now even more concerned about Claus. He was glad that Claus was still alive and that they finally found him after so long, but he looked like he's been roughhoused pretty badly wherever he's been.

"I don't know, Lucas… but I'm just glad he's safe. I wouldn't be surprised if those Pigmasks forced him to do something dangerous just to get you to stop pulling the Needles," Flint said with a frown. "Maybe you can help heal him with your PSI? I can only do so much with herbal medicine."

"O-oh, of course," Lucas said, feeling a little dumb that he didn't think of using his PSI before. He placed a hand on his brother's chest, whispering Lifeup as a bright green aura surrounded Claus. When Lucas was finished, he saw Claus's eyes slowly open.

"H-huh?" Claus groaned as his eyes, both synthetic and organic, tried to readjust. "Where am I…?" He sat up from his bed and rubbed his eyes, suddenly he felt something or someone wrapping their arms around his waist. "H-hey! What?"

"CLAUS! You're awake!" Lucas cried out in happiness, hugging his brother tightly and not wanting to let go. Boney went back to licking Claus's face, now barking at him happily too.

" _We were so worried for you!"_ Boney barked.

Claus was blinking in confusion as he looked at Lucas and Boney, before he looked down at himself in more confusion as he grabbed his striped shirt, almost as if he was expecting to be wearing something different. "Lucas…? You… uh… how did I get home? Last thing I remember was being on the beach…"

"Dad said he found you washed up on the beach. But I'm glad you're okay!" Lucas said, still hugging his brother. "What happened to you after all this time? We kept looking around for you but we couldn't find you anywhere. And how did you end up in the middle of the _ocean_?"

"I…" Claus frowned before shaking his head. "I was supposed to… help the Pigmasks with something because their base… collapsed, but I guess I went too far out to sea. Uh… sorry I didn't come home for so long… I missed you too, Lucas. And of course you too Dad and Boney," Claus said as he gave Lucas a gentle hug, almost as if he was afraid of hurting him.

Flint didn't seem too surprised at what Claus was saying. Lucas and Boney were just relieved that he was alright after all, and now safe at home. "So are you just gonna stay here now?" Lucas asked. "You should, it's a lot safer here. I don't want you to go out only for something dangerous to happen to you again…"

"Stay here? But I…" Claus frowned and seemed hesitant to say anything to that. "Um… what do you mean, Lucas? Are you going out?"

"Well… I have something important to do, but I should be done soon," Lucas said.

"Oh… right…" Claus looked down. "Um… what happened to all the Pigmasks that were in that base?"

"I helped transport them to New Pork City. They needed a bigger hospital to fix them up," Flint answered. "This village is almost barren now because of that city."

"Tazmily's almost barren?" Claus frowned at this. "I-I guess the city was too tempting for everyone…" He squeezed his blanket, probably wondering what to do now that all his superiors left him behind like that.

"W-well, if all the Pigmasks are already in that big city… Why don't you just stay here in Tazmily with Dad?" Lucas said, not wanting to let the idea go. He didn't want Claus to go off risking his life again. "I-I mean, you're just a waterboy, right? I'm sure they won't mind you just staying here. And you can keep Dad company."

Claus looked up at Lucas and frowned. "... You're going to leave me behind again?"

Lucas felt his heart sink again, he remembered the illusion Claus saying something to Lucas always leaving him behind. Hearing the real Claus say that to him really stung.

"Um, well… I-I just don't want something to happen to you, Claus… You look really badly hurt, and the last thing I want to happen is to lose you like we lost…" Lucas stopped there and looked down. He really meant what he said; he just wanted his brother to be safe when he was done with all this and finally went back home.

"No… it's okay Lucas… I understand. You do what you have to do," Claus said softly. "After all… you were always meant for bigger and better things."

Lucas felt guilty after what Claus said. He really didn't mean to do patronize him, he was just concerned. But now that the real Claus was saying this to him, Lucas couldn't help but keep thinking about what the illusion Claus had said to him before. "I… I'm sorry, Claus… I didn't know it was hurting you whenever I go to do these big things… If I could, I would switch places, really…"

"Heh… you probably don't want to switch places once you realized what I've been doing," Claus said with a humorless smile. He stood up from the bed and put his hand on Lucas's shoulder. "Hey listen… no matter what happens… just know that I will always love you as my twin brother, okay? Even if we fight or disagree on some things… you'll always be my brother."

"H-huh?" Lucas wasn't sure where that came from, but even so he nodded his head. "O-okay Claus. Thanks…" he tried not to get teary and rubbed his eyes. "So... what are you going to do now then?"

"Me? Well… I'll just do what I think I need to do." Claus said. "You go on ahead and finish what you started, okay?"

Boney whined before he said, _"I really wish you can understand me, Claus…"_

Claus looked over at Boney, he gave a small smile to the dog before he bend over and pet him. "And Boney… if you're going with Lucas, please take good care of him."

" _Of course! I won't let a member of my pack get hurt on my watch!"_ Boney barked, wagging his tail.

"He said that-"

"Yeah, he'll make sure you won't get hurt." Claus interrupted Lucas. Lucas was a little surprised and kinda hopeful, but Claus just continued with, "I mean, he looks really happy and he's wagging his tail. I'm _pretty_ sure that's what he said."

Flint spoke up, "It's okay Lucas, I'll keep an eye on your brother. You go on and pull the last two Needles, okay?"

"Needles?" Claus looked at Flint with a surprised expression.

"Lucas told me all about the Needles when he sent me a letter," Flint explained. "And I'm hoping he'll be done soon so the world can be saved and he can come back home."

"He's pulling Needles?" Claus looked confused at that.

"Didn't the Pigmasks tell you?" Lucas asked.

"... Yeah, but I guess I wasn't really paying attention. The Commander was always out looking for you," Claus said.

"Oh...Well… yeah, he's always trying to go after me. But… I don't know if it's just me, but he doesn't really seem all _that_ bad…" Lucas said, feeling a little shy and nervous since he still had a small suspicion of the Commander being his very own brother… even though Claus was standing right here in front of him.

"If you say so," Claus sighed. "Well… I guess you better get going."

Lucas nodded as he said, "I… I promise to come back soon, okay Claus? … And thanks for this badge. These creatures called Mr. Saturn said it's called the Franklin Badge and it saved me from the Mas- I mean the Commander's lightning attack."

"... Mr. Saturn? … I guess those must've been the creatures Dr. Ando- I mean I guess they really know their stuff then if they could get it to work finally," Claus said nervously.

"Yeah, they're actually really weird, but they know some stuff that I don't even think the smartest people know of…" Lucas said, chuckling a little. He wished he could have just stayed here and kept talking with Claus like normal, without having to worry about the pressure of his duty to pull the Needles or worrying about the Pigmasks, but he knew that he had to get going. He hugged Claus one last time. "Well… I guess me and Boney have to go now."

Claus hugged him right back and said, "Be careful out there… I have a feeling the Commander's going to get really desperate now."

Lucas blinked, he could've sworn he felt a faint sense of PSI aura within his brother.

Boney whined as he didn't want to leave either, but he did promise to keep Lucas safe.

"Now go, and be a hero," Claus said as he let Lucas go.

Lucas couldn't tell whether he was saying that with genuine kindness or with slight disappointment in himself, either way, Lucas nodded his head. "Okay. Thanks Claus. I hope we'll see you soon."

With that, Lucas and Boney went on their way out of the house, though they mostly had to force themselves since they still didn't want to leave.

"Boney… I might be going crazy, but I thought I sensed PSI aura in Claus," Lucas said as they were heading back into the almost empty Tazmily.

" _Really? You think he might be getting PSI?"_ Boney asked.

"I don't know… but maybe…"

* * *

Little did they know, Claus had his own plans.

"So, Claus… What _are_ you going to do now?" Flint asked his orange-haired son as Lucas and Boney left. "You could always stay here. It would be nice to have some company once in awhile, it gets lonely sometimes."

Claus turned back to his father and said, "I meant what I said earlier, Dad… I'll do what I think I have to. I'm… I'm going to have to go out, okay?"

"... Why?" Flint asked. "Your employment has been all but terminated since the Pigmasks all left you. What reason could you possibly have to leave now?"

"... I…" Claus froze when he noticed his commander's outfit and helmet by the closet, the jacket still had that small tear from when he went on Tanetane island. "... D-Dad… did you… find me on the beach while I was wearing that?"

Flint turned to see what Claus was looking at. "Ah… that outfit you were wearing? I thought it was strange for you to be wearing such a goth-looking getup. Do you need it for something?"

"... Dad… didn't you ever see the Commander before?" Claus dared to ask. "I know you have… and I doubt you'd forget about him so easily."

Flint didn't respond. He just looked away and adjusted his hat over his eyes, as if not knowing what he wanted to say. Eventually, a small word came out. "Why?"

Claus looked down himself before he said, "... You know, don't you." it wasn't a question.

"Why did you do it, Claus?" Flint just continued. "You joined them. Those people who are trying to help this world that isn't even theirs in vain. Those same people who took away your…" he adjusted his hat again.

"They're not really bad people, Dad… they're just trying to help any way they can… What happened with Mom was… unfortunate but they're not all responsible for it… they said some red creature was controlling that Drago, otherwise it never would've happened in the first place. A-and besides… the renegades were the ones who attacked the village, not them… they helped everyone," Claus explained softly. "And I also want to help the world we live in, is that so wrong?"

"I don't want to challenge what you believe in, Claus, and you apparently believe in so strongly that you became the commander of their entire army. But… please Claus, you can still change. The last thing I want is to lose both of my sons because of _them_. Can't you just drop out and come back home? When Lucas is done with this, it will all go back to normal." Flint sounded like he was almost begging Claus to turn his back on the Pigmasks…. not that Claus could really blame him either.

"I… I _was_ going to resign because I betrayed them…" Claus said softly, which surprised Flint.

"You… _betrayed_ them?" Flint asked in shock.

"Well… they don't really know I did, and I didn't mean to but… I…" Claus clenched his fists. "You know that you would need PK Love to pull these Needles, right?"

"Yes," Flint said, nodding.

"A-and… well… Lucas can use PK Love… but… so can the Commander…" Claus answered. "And… I… pulled three of the seven Needles… I practically betrayed them for pulling ONE!"

Flint looked genuinely surprised by this, and his tone sounded almost hopeful. "Really? _You_ did that? That means… you've been helping Lucas this entire time. But… this is a _good_ thing, Claus. The Dark Dragon can be released faster and soon this will all be over. We can go back to living normally as a family again."

Claus looked at his dad and said, "N-no, don't you get it? Once the Dark Dragon wakes up it'll _destroy_ us all! We won't be alive to see what happens to this world! That's why… that's why I have to stop Lucas!"

"Claus… please, it doesn't have to be like that. Just let Lucas do what he needs to do and it will all be over. Please, all this conflict and violence won't be necessary if you _just_ -"

"I can't believe you Dad! You're all for this, why?" Claus frowned at him. "Don't you realize the consequences of this? Everyone is striving for a better world, but I won't let people die just for the sake of the world." The boy stormed over to the closet to put on his commander's outfit. He picked up a spare jetwing that he was thankful Dr. Andonuts made in case his jetwings got destroyed again.

"Claus, take that outfit off right now," Flint said, now stern. "You shouldn't do this."

"... I'm sorry Dad… I _have_ to do this," Claus said before he put a hand in front of Flint's face. "Brainshock."

* * *

Unaware of this event happening back home, Lucas and Boney met up with Duster and Kumatora at Wess's house. Fassad was originally going to turn this place into a retired home for old people, but apparently he changed his mind. There they saw Duster and Kumatora speaking with Wess.

"Ah, there's Lucas now," Kumatora said when she noticed him and Boney.

"You sure have grown, Lucas," Wess said when he saw the boy. "I'm surprised that my thunderhead of a son has been useful to you on this journey."

"Hey, your kid's been a great help old man," Kumatora grumbled.

"I do owe you a lot, father. Your teachings helped me assist Lucas in the adventure," Duster said quietly.

"Yes well… this old man is just sad to let everything fall into the hands of the new generation, but it is for the better I suppose," Wess sighed. "If I was younger I'd be the one assisting you, Lucas, and keeping the Princess safe. But there's nothing I can do about it."

Lucas gave a small nod before he said, "Where's everyone?"

"Didn't you hear? They've all gone to the big city to make it big," Wess sighed. "This village is never going to be the same I tell ya. Even after all we've been through to protect it."

"Even Grandpa?" Lucas asked, he hadn't seen his grandfather since the day his mother died. He and Claus had been busy with their own things.

"He… hadn't left yet, but he's thinking about it," Wess answered.

"But if everyone leaves then what will happen to Tazmily? It's our home…" Lucas said sadly.

Boney gave a whine as he tried to comfort Lucas by licking his hand.

"Well… nobody knows." Wess sighed. "But let's not worry about that right now. You still have two of those Needles left to pull, right?"

"Yeah, and unfortunately if we don't get there before the Masked Man does then the world is doomed." Kumatora said with a frown.

"... Somehow I don't think so…" Lucas said quietly.

"Well the Argilla Pass shouldn't be too far from where Alec lives." Wess said. "Perhaps you can drop by for a visit while you're heading there."

" _I wonder if maybe we could convince Alec to stay…"_ Boney said to Lucas.

"W-well… we could try." Lucas said to both Wess and Boney. "We better go now, I'd like to get this over with so I can come home to Dad and Claus."

"Claus was home?" Duster asked, surprised.

"Yeah, Dad found him unconscious on the beach," Lucas said. "So now that I know he's safe, I want to get this Needle pulling thing over with faster."

"Well then we better head on out. Old man Wess was nice enough to pack us with food, so we should be good for a few days," Kumatora said. "And hopefully we won't be desperate enough to eat mushrooms like you did."

Lucas blushed and looked awkwardly as he was reminded of what happened when he ate those mushrooms. The boy never wanted to eat a mushroom again.

"Well just make sure you take care of this moron here," Wess said, looking at Duster. "He may be a moron but he's my moron and he means well."

"Father, I'm not a-" Duster began to argue.

"Now get out there and be a hero!" Wess suddenly said before he shut the door.

"... Father just has trouble showing his feelings," Duster sighed. "But he's rooting for us."

"Old man Wess never changes," Kumatora chuckled. "Okay Lucas, let's get going."

* * *

Lucas nodded as the group of four left the almost ghost town of Tazmily, heading into the woods and towards the mountain. The chimeras were getting less as the Pigmasks were taking them out for something, which made it easier for Lucas and his friends.

"What could those Pigsnots could be planning, recalling their chimeras like that?" Kumatora said as she looked around the area with a suspicious look on her face.

"It makes it easier for us. At least you won't have to waste up too much of your energy on PSI," Duster replied, earning a grumble from the pink-haired hothead. It wasn't too long before they made it through the forest and up to Alec's house, the journey made a lot easier with less enemies attacking them.

"There's Grandpa's house." Lucas pointed out. "He lives near the Drago's home, so I guess that's why Claus and I never came back here since what happened to Mom."

"I don't blame you," Kumatora said. "But I'm sure your grandpa misses you, Lucas. It can't hurt to say hi to him."

"Y-yeah… I guess I better before he leaves for the city," Lucas sighed as he walked up to the door and knocked on it.

Boney walked beside Lucas and sat down beside him as Alec answered the door, looking surprised to see Lucas.

"Oh Lucas! Is that you? You've grown since I last saw you," Alec said. "You've even got a more mature look in your eyes that I never thought I'd see in you."

Alec had always teased Lucas for being such a timid boy and wished he'd be more outgoing like his brother Claus, but at the same time he teased Claus for not being able to sit quietly and help around the house like Lucas did.

"Y-yeah… I… I'm sorry that we haven't been visiting you lately, Grandpa," Lucas said quietly. "But I wanted to stop by to see how you were doing before we moved on."

"Oh? Where are you going?" Alec asked before noticing Kumatora and Duster behind him. "Oh wow, you didn't tell me you had company with you!"

"They're my friends, they've been… helping me with something really important," Lucas answered sheepishly.

"Oh they are?" Alec looked at them. "Duster! I haven't seen you in a while! How's that art of thievery training coming along?"

"I'm not really in training anymore," Duster said quietly. Alec raised his eyes at him in slight shock until Kumatora spoke.

"Hey gramps, are you really going to leave for New Pork City?" she asked.

Boney gave a whine as Lucas said, "We heard from Wess that you were thinking about leaving to go there soon… is it true, Grandpa?"

Alec gave a sigh as he said, "Well Lucas, this wouldn't have been a problem if money still didn't exist, but since it was introduced I've been having trouble keeping my bills paid and keeping food in my kitchen. I'm going to have to go to the city if I want to keep living."

"But can't you stay here until we get back?" Lucas quickly said. "I'm sure everything will get better once we get back from our important errand, Grandpa! I just… don't want you to go."

"We've lost contact for three years, Lucas." Alec frowned. "Would it really be a big deal if I left?"

"Yes! Grandpa… I'm sorry I haven't been visiting you since Mom's funeral, but I still love you…" Lucas frowned.

"I don't know if I can afford to stay home, Lucas," Alec said. "But… where are you three-"

Boney gave a bark.

"Sorry- _four_ going anyways?" Alec asked, looking at them.

"We're just heading out to Argilla Pass," Kumatora said in a bored manner. "Let's just say we're looking for something very important over there."

"Do you know the closest route to Argilla Pass?" Duster asked.

"Oh that place? It's pretty dangerous, there's a lot of chimeras over there that are strong and hostile." Alec said with a frown. "Are you sure you want to go there?"

"We'll be fine, Grandpa. Just please tell us how to get there," Lucas said.

"Well… okay… if you're sure, Lucas. Don't hurt yourself. You know how to get to Stumble Path, right? There's a cave that will lead you to Argilla Pass," Alec answered.

"Why is it called Stumble Path?" Kumatora asked. "Do people really stumble there a lot?"

"Yes, believe it or not, the place has a bumpy path that most people don't see until they trip over it," Alec answered with a chuckle.

"I guess we better head there now," Duster said. "We don't want to burn too much daylight before we get there."

Lucas nodded and said, "Thanks Grandpa… and I hope you'll wait for us."

"Be careful Lucas, I don't want to lose my grandson too. Oh… wait… where's Claus? Aren't you two usually together?" Alec asked when he just noticed Lucas was without his twin brother.

"Oh, Claus? Well… a lot of stuff happened lately," Lucas answered vaguely. "Right now… he should just be staying at home with Dad."

"Claus? Staying home with your father? There's a first," Alec chuckled. "Is he sick or something?"

"N-no, it's not that! It's just… he got hurt working on something, and both me and Dad told him to stay home," Lucas responded. _I really hope he did stay home… he might try to leave again or something…_

"Claus got hurt? Is he okay?" Alec asked in concern.

"He's fine, gramps, but we really need to get going now," Kumatora said impatiently. "We've got a lot of work to do and little time to do it."

"Ah, alright, you go then while I ramble on." Alec sighed.

"Kumatora's just hasty like my brother," Lucas chuckled. "But I hope you're still here when we get back, Grandpa."

"I'm not making any promises, Lucas, but just come back safely," Alec said as Lucas nodded.

They waved good-bye to Alec and continued their way up the mountain.


	35. Chapter 35: Agrilla Pass

**DarkFoxKit: So… *Has a baseball bat in her paws* What did I say about calling me a kitty?**

 **Donfyre: *sweatdrops, backing up into the corner* I-is this necessary? In front of all the readers?**

 **DarkFoxKit: I still remember when you called me Kitty. I need to pay you back for that somehow. :3 *Is approaching Fyre***

 **Donfyre: H-hey now, what's wrong with kitty? It's a pretty nice name… and admittedly fun to tease you with as a payback for everything you've done to me. ^^'**

 **DarkFoxKit: Oh, I'm sure it is. *I took off the 'lid' off the 'baseball bat', for it to reveal to be a big syringe.* Which is why I'm gonna give you a little shot to get your mind off giving me payback. c:**

 **Donfyre: WAH! O-O' N-now wait a second, kitt- er, Fox, I'm sure we can work this out!**

 **DarkFoxKit: *Is laughing evilly* Oh? And what did you have in mind, hmmm?**

 **Donfyre: Erm… a little truce? ^^' *is slowly sidling away from the insane DarkFoxKit***

 **DarkFoxKit: HEY! *Is glaring at Fyre's words* I am NOT insane! *Jumps on top of Fyre's head* Hold still!**

 **Donfyre: NO! DX And stop breaking the fourth wall! *shakes off the fox and takes cover behind the camera***

 **DarkFoxKit: You know you can't stay safe forever. c: By the way, readers, I hope you're excited for this new chapter. I've added some things I thought were interesting in the game, like a certain… yellow depressing creature.**

 **Donfyre: *his voice could be heard from behind the camera* Oh, that part! I wasn't there when Fox was writing this chapter, but I have read it, and it's pretty interesting. c:**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yes, interesting indeed. Now then… time to answer the reviews… so I can get to my prey. *Is smiling sinisterly at the boy behind the camera***

 **Donfyre: *gulp* o-o I-I think I'll just stay here for now…**

 **DarkFoxKit: That camera won't keep you safe forever!**

* * *

 **Shimo no ko: Hah, nice reference there! XD And thankfully we didn't have to put this chapter off for another week. ^^' You know how life can be sometimes. Yeah, Claus may have been a little too desperate there. Denial can be a powerful thing, and sarcasm? Maybe, or an understatement. :P As for why Flint didn't dispose of Claus's commander outfit, he didn't have time, all of this happened pretty quickly and Claus would've just ran off anyways. Hee, hee, hee. :3**

 **Karnelian : Flint wasn't going to let Claus go without a fight, and Claus just decided to knock him out. ^^'**

 **FanofFiction123 : Cool, glad you're excited for it. :3 Aww, you liked how excited Boney got when he smelled Claus? ^^ Sans and Claus, huh? I wonder what would happen if those two meet. And I'm not saying anything on the reveals, you'll just have to wait and see. As for how many parts? There's 6 in total.**

 **Bloxxerstudios1: Uh… Earthbound Reddi- OH CRAP! TAKE COVER!**

 **sunflowermaiden210 : I think everyone really liked Flint and Claus' little interaction with each other. XP**

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: That seems to be all… good, now for my prize! *has claws out before jumping behind the camera. The camera was dropped and the readers could hear yelling and screaming***

 **Donfyre: GAAAAH!**

 ***The camera went static***

* * *

 **Chapter 35: Agrilla Pass**

There were Crag Lizards along the way and they were usually good at camouflaging themselves as rocks, but they didn't bother the group.

"At least there aren't any chimeras up here," Duster said. "This should be easier for us."

" _Yeah, assuming the Pigmasks didn't decide to make another Mecha Drago or Reconstructed Caribou, we should be totally fine,"_ Boney said.

"Well don't get too comfortable Duster, we still have to pass Argilla Pass, and you heard the old man; there are a lot of dangerous chimeras in there," Kumatora said as she elbowed Duster's ribs playfully.

Boney barked with pride at her statement. _"And we got a lot more dangerous too! We should have no problem getting through them!"_

"Don't get cocky, little lap dog. Those big bad chimeras might be too much for a Chihuahua like you," Kumatora said, smirking.

Boney growled at Kumatora. _"I am NOT some cutesy little lazy lap dog that shakes all the time! I'll have you know that I can rip a big zombie mushrooms with my teeth alone and I'm not afraid to use these babies against those chimeras! Besides, don't you think spelunking in the big dark cave is a little much for the dainty little princess?"_

"What was that!?" Kumatora snapped, her hot temper immediately fired up. "Do I _look_ like a-!?"

"Ah! Hey! There's a cave up ahead, that must be Argilla Pass!" Lucas quickly spoke up loudly, interrupting the two before things could get really ugly.

"We just have to-" Duster began to say before they all suddenly stumbled and fell flat on their faces. "Ow…"

"Ooooow…" Lucas moaned with his face in the dirt.

Kumatora lifted her head up and frowned, "... We really did stumble… Well it's a good thing we weren't holding anything easy to drop and easy to roll."

" _Speak for yourself! I just lost some of my yummy Magic Pudding!"_ Boney whined.

"Boney, those are for me and Lucas since it replenishes PSI!" Kumatora snapped.

" _Hey! That's no excuse to hog all the good stuff!"_ Boney growled.

"Okay you two!" Lucas spoke up, breaking them up. "We're almost at the cave, can we please all try to get along?"

Both of them didn't say anything, just grumbled and glared viciously at each other.

"They'll be all nice and friendly when something attacks us," Duster said. "We should head into the cave now, while those two are still at a stalemate."

"A-alright. Come on you two," Lucas said, motioning for Boney and Kumatora to catch up while they lagged behind still glaring at each other.

* * *

The group of four finally made it into the cave, it wasn't as dark as they thought it would be, but they quickly realized it wouldn't be as easy as they hoped; there was a ton of different paths and other entrances to choose from, and there were a lot of slug-like creatures and mechanical moles in their way.

"Uh… how would we know which way to go?" Lucas asked, looking at the different entrances.

"Uh… well… Duster, you've been trained on how to be thief, maybe you could tell us which way to go," Kumatora quickly said to the man with the limp.

"W-what?" Duster sweatdropped. "I was trained on how to steal important stuff, but father always taught me the layouts of where I'm going before I navigate anywhere!"

"Boney, maybe you can use your nose to help us?" Lucas said to his dog.

Boney whimpered as he shook his head. _"I'd need a sample of a smell to find my way through here, besides there's too many chemical smells in here from the chimeras to distinguish anything."_

"Are you kidding me? How will we find our way through this _maze_ of a cave!? This could just be just as bad as that mole cricket dungeon we were in before!" Kumatora growled.

"Maybe it won't be _that_ bad…" Lucas gulped at Kumatora's hot temper. "Let's just pick a path and go from there."

The group of four tried the closest entrance to them but didn't get far when they were attacked by the mecha moles and the slugs. They were annoying to deal with, but nothing too dangerous for the group of four that had battled with military armies and tanks. There were these strange creatures called the Cuddle Bombs, and they were pretty hard to take out. They'd clung onto one of them and try to explode, but thankfully they manage to take them out before they do.

* * *

 _We've been traveling around the Argilla Pass trying to find the way out and hopefully to Ionia's house. There were a lot of enemies here and we had to stop and eat some of our food supplies to replenish our health and to conserve PSI. We ran into a lot of dead ends and always had to turn around. There was this one dead end that had something really… depressing._

"Um… what is that?" Lucas asked when they saw a yellow rectangular creature on its hands and knees and looking like it was sobbing.

"I have no idea." Kumatora frowned. "Another chimera maybe?"

"I don't know, there's something… off about it," Duster said, looking at it.

" _Um… maybe we should leave it alone,"_ Boney suggested. _"It smells sad… like_ really _sad… I'm talking past depression."_

"If it's sad maybe we should try talking to it. I mean maybe it's lost," Lucas suggested.

"I don't know about this." Duster frowned. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"I'm going to at least try," Lucas said as he approached the rectangle creature. "Um… hi there… uh… are you lost?"

The creature looked up to look at Lucas. The face of the creature startled the young boy as its face looked like a man and too human for his liking, and it looks like it's been crying and sobbing for a while.

"I'm… just a worthless protoplasm… please just put me out of my misery," The creature said with negativity.

"W-what?" Lucas frowned worriedly. The creature sounded human and that disturbed him even more. _Was this thing once a man but was turned into a chimera?_ But that didn't seem right, it didn't look like it's been reconstructed by anyone, even if it did look unnatural.

"I… there's… there's no way I can win…" The creature- Negative Man Lucas decided to dub it- said with such sorrow that it made Lucas himself want to cry.

"U-um… what? Did you lose an important game? L-look, if you're lost maybe we can help you get out," Lucas said softly to the Negative Man.

"N-no… I'm not lost… I… Life is but a moment, a meaningless grind of sand. Just put me out of my misery," The Negative Man said as he began crying again.

"Oh for heaven's sake- let's just get out of here Lucas, this guy's just going to bawl his eyes out all day," Kumatora grumbled.

"We can't just leave him like this, Kumatora. He needs help!" Lucas frowned at her.

"I'm not sure how we can help him, he doesn't seem to _want_ help." Duster frowned.

" _Maybe he's beyond help,"_ Boney whined.

The Negative Man grabbed onto Lucas's wrist and said, "Please… please just kill me now!"

"W-wah? N-no! Let me go!" Lucas pulled his hand back.

The Negative Man used a fist to bash Lucas's skull, but strangely the boy hardly felt that. In fact it just felt like a feather hit him there.

"There, I attacked you so you better hit me!" The Negative Man wailed at him, scaring Lucas even more.

"U-uh… we'll just be going now!" Lucas quickly said as he backed away.

"N-no! Just put me out of misery, please!" Negative Man cried and begged.

"Oh for the love of- What's your _problem_!?" Kumatora snapped at the crying creature.

"Let's make a break for it," Duster said as he threw a smoke bomb.

The Negative Man began crying and wailing even more as the smoke filled his already teary eyes. Lucas hurried after the group as they ran out of there.

"I've never met anyone so… _negative_ like that before, it's downright scary!" Lucas said with his eyes wide.

"No kidding. Let's just not talk to any strange creature we see, okay?" Kumatora grumbled.

" _Ugh… more mecha moles,"_ Boney groaned when he smelled more underground just waiting to pop their ugly heads at them.

* * *

 _I don't know how long we've been scouring this cave, but it felt like a long time. We were getting tired and low on food. Grandpa wasn't kidding when he said this place was full of dangerous chimeras. But as we head deeper in Argilla Pass there was some strange type of creature that I'm sure isn't a chimera but was just as strange as that Negative Man we saw back there. It was some kind of bright purple human-like creature with nothing but a red loincloth around its waist, but the most noticeable feature on this thing was its giant head, and I don't mean like it's just a little bit too big, I mean it's MASSIVELY big, it's so big that its head was touching the ground on the backside of its small body! I couldn't help but stare at it… how could such a creature possibly live like that? It seems to be happy though as it gave a big goofy smile at us._

"Okay, that Negative Man was weird, but… what the heck is _that_ thing?" Kumatora said in confusion, obviously thinking the same thing as Lucas was.

"I don't know, but… how can it walk like that?" Duster stared at it as the creature was stumbling around.

" _Wow… now this is what I call a literal egg head jumbo size,"_ Boney barked.

"Um… should we fight it?" Lucas asked.

"It's probably not hostile and why would we want to battle something like that?" Duster asked. "If that thing can headbutt us that would hurt, a lot."

As if it heard them, the big headed purple creature suddenly charged at them, startling the group of four. The big headed creature stomped on the ground with its head so hard that it caused a mini-earthquake around them and made them lose their balance.

"Ow! That freaking hurts!" Kumatora snapped.

Boney whimpered and Duster fell on his back. Lucas fell on his face, but as soon as he lifted his head up he saw the big headed creature was swinging its giant skull at him. The boy cringed and yelped in pain when the creature headbutt him right into a wall.

"Gah!" Lucas hissed, and if his body wasn't in shape right now he could've sworn he'd break at least a few bones from that impact.

" _Lucas!"_ Boney howled in concern for the boy.

"Darn it! This thing is strong!" Kumatora hissed. "PK Freeze gamma!" She shot powerful ice at the creature, and it gave a scream as its body was being frozen. It was clear that it did not do well in the cold.

Lucas hissed as he stood back up and held out his hand. "Counter omega!" Everyone around him was covered in a golden barrier.

"What the- Lucas? When did you learn how to use Counter in that way?" Kumatora asked in shock.

"I've been practicing," Lucas said with a sheepish smile.

The big headed creature ran at them again, headbutting Boney. Boney whimpered as he was slammed back, but not as hard as Lucas thanks to the Counter shield, and it caused the big head creature to be bounced back just as hard.

Boney growled and ran at the creature before biting its thin neck in revenge for being hit. Though the neck was thin it was surprisingly durable, it probably had to be to keep that giant head connected to its smaller body.

Lucas grabbed his bat and ran at the creature, he slammed the bat into its head before using portions of his PK Love into his feet to kick it into the ground. When the creature tried that mini-earthquake again, the Counter shield didn't react to it.

"That's technically a PSI attack," Kumatora explained as they tried to hang on. "Counter has no effect!"

Duster dug into his pocket and pulled out a beetle, it gave a very annoying high pitched ear splitting cry that made everyone want to shut their ears from it.

The big headed creature seemed to be affected by this and turned its body around as if to try and run from the annoying screeching bug.

"That's it! It can't fight like that!" Duster smiled.

"That's great Duster, NOW PUT THAT THING AWAY!" Kumatora screamed.

Duster gulped at her wrath before quickly putting the bug back in his pocket to shut it up. With the big headed creature now turned around and stumbling, this gave the group of four a chance to attack it all at once. Kumatora with her fists, Boney with his teeth, Duster with his feet and Lucas with his bat. The creature didn't stand a chance after that, and it fell to the ground unconscious.

"Whew… glad that's over with," Kumatora sighed in relief.

Lucas noticed something sparkling in the big headed creature's hand, something he hadn't noticed during the battle. He went over to it to see what it was before he picked it up. "Hey look guys! It's another bat! But it's kinda sparkly and I can feel some kind of PSI power radiating from it."

Kumatora looked at it before she said, "I don't believe it… Lucas! That's a Mystic Stick! It's a very rare but powerful weapon, how did one of THESE big egg headed creatures forge one?"

"Maybe it's one of those Heftyheads father told me about," Duster explained. "He said they looked funny with their giant heads, but they're incredibly intelligent."

Lucas smiled as he inspected the Mystic Stick, it was as thick as the bat he was holding now and he felt power flowing through it. Maybe he can use this for his weapon and the regular bat can be a spare in case something should happen to the Mystic Stick.

" _Alright, Lucas got a cool new weapon. Can we move on now? I rather not have to face another one those 'Heftyheads' again,"_ Boney grumbled.

"We're going, we're going," Lucas chuckled as he put the two weapons away into his bag.

* * *

 _Thankfully the cave wasn't as big as a maze as the mole cricket's dungeon was. It was pretty easy to navigate once we remembered which road lead us to a dead end. We eventually found the exit of Argilla Pass and couldn't be happier to finally make it outside again._

"Ah, finally we're out of that cave." Kumatora smiled.

"So do you think one of the Magypy's in this area?" Duster asked.

"It should be. This might be Ionia's Needle," Kumatora said.

Lucas frowned a bit as he said, "Ionia, huh?" He got along pretty well with the Magypsies the past couple of years, but strangely enough Ionia had always been the closest one to him, even more so than Aeolia.

"What's the matter, Lucas?" Duster asked the boy in concern.

"It's just… Ionia and I were pretty close… I always was able to talk to her about things that I couldn't with the other Magypsies… I really would hate to see 'her' go," Lucas said sadly.

"Yeah… I'm going to miss her too, Lucas. The Magypsies practically raised me," Kumatora sighed sadly. "It hurts me to see any of them go, except maybe Locria, I hardly remember her because she just kinda disappeared."

"I really wish I didn't have to pull Ionia's Needle…" Lucas frowned.

"But you know you have to," Kumatora said, her voice soft.

"Y-yeah… I-I know…" The boy sighed. "Let's just… let's just find Ionia's house and talk to her one last time before we look for her Needle."

"Sounds good to me," Duster said.

Boney sniffed around the place before he barked, _"I remember her scent! It's been etched in my memory since I smelled those clothes way back at the hot springs!"_

"Really? Okay lead the way Boney!" Lucas smiled.

Boney lead the group to a small cliff with a rope ladder. Lucas, Kumatora, Duster and Boney all climbed it to the top, seeing the familiar pink shelled house on top of a small island of water.

Lucas and his friends walked across the bridge to the house before opening the door, relieved to see Ionia was still there, that meant her Needle hadn't been pulled yet.

* * *

"Oh my~ I was wondering when you'd be here," Ionia said with the smile all the Magypsies have. "I've been waiting for you, little Lucas since I heard 'the time' had come~!"

"Ionia…" Lucas couldn't help but give a small sad smile at seeing her again after all this time.

"I know, it's rather sad saying good-bye isn't it? But you've already known this since you chose to pull out Aeolia's Needle," Ionia said. "It's too bad that we couldn't have spent more time with each other Lucas, but the time we did have together will always be cherished~."

Lucas told himself he wasn't going to cry, but he forced the tears back as he just gave a small smile to Ionia, she had taught him a lot about training with his PSI, especially how to manipulate portions of his PK Love to enhanced his own attacks since he didn't really have any other types of offensive PSI unless he counted PK Flash. Ionia was also the one who taught him about Magicant too and it felt wrong to have to pull out her Needle and never see her again because of it.

"I… I had known this was coming… but I wished it hadn't come so soon," Lucas said sadly.

"Oh Lucas, you've grown and matured so much over the years and this journey. You're a man now and I know you're ready to do what you need to do~." Ionia smiled at him before looking at Boney. "And you… you've really stuck with Lucas all the way through this journey, huh? You're such a good and loyal friend. Shake!"

Boney was feeling rather proud at Ionia's little speech about him until she told him to 'shake'. The dog frowned and looked away, he knew how to do that trick but he refused to have to shake paws every time someone spoke to him.

" _Just because I'm a dog doesn't mean you should tell me to do a trick for you,"_ Boney pouted.

Ionia rolled her eyes before she said, "Just as sarcastic as ever I see." Then she went over to Duster. "Hey you, what's your name again? Dusty?"

Duster gave a frown at that before Ionia chuckled, "Oh I'm kidding, of course I know your name Duster. I'm proud that you helped your friends even with everything that's happened to you, you're a good man~."

"W-well you know… just wanting to help my friends out," Duster blushed a bit.

Ionia then went over to Kumatora. "And Kumatora… I've been with you since you were a small child, and now look at you. I can hardly believe how much you've grown and that you've been trying so hard to help little Lucas here~."

"I-Ionia, that's enough!" Kumatora snapped, blushing from embarrassment.

Ionia giggled from Kumatora's reaction. "Oh there's nothing to be embarrassed about~ You really should work on that short temper of yours. Still, I know you have a good heart and just trying your best to do what's right."

Ionia stood before the four and said, "You four have been working hard to make all this possible~. Now that the time is here, you better go and pull out my Needle Lucas~ It's in Chupichupyoi Temple waiting for you~." Then she turned around before opening a drawer and handing Lucas a small bottle of water. "And use this; this is the Waters of Time. The entrance to Chupichupyoi Temple is blocked by strong vines stopped in time, but a little sprinkle of the Waters of Time should do the trick of getting rid of those vines."

Lucas took the bottle before looking at Ionia, who gave them all a wink and a smile. "Th-thanks Ionia… I'm… I'm really going to miss you."

"Oh Lucas~ You are so cute yet you're so mature. I was really blessed to have met you, all of you. If there's anything I regret it's that I didn't get to spend more time with you all, but that's just how life works~" Ionia said, sounding both giddy yet sad at the same time.

Lucas really didn't want to pull Ionia's Needle, he really hated that she would have to disappear once he does, and by his own hands too, but he knew he had to. If he didn't then the world may die off eventually and nothing could live here anymore, that was a very sad future and he wanted to do everything in his power to prevent that. "It was great seeing you again, Ionia, before I pull your Needle."

"Yes, it was great to see you all too," Ionia said as she took a bite out of a jar of pickles she had beside her. "These pickles will be the last thing I eat before I disappear. I've always wanted my favorite food to be my last meal. Oh, but before you go, have some tea, it will help replenish your energy after that long trek through the cave."

"Ah, that would be very nice, thank you Ionia," Kumatora said gratefully.

* * *

 _After we drank a few cups of tea I felt much more refreshed, it was like having a good night's rest back home! It's too bad we don't have this kind of tea back in Tazmily. But now it was time to say goodbye to Ionia… after everything we've been through… Ionia's the hardest Magypsy I had to say goodbye to. Still, 'she' sent us off with a smile on 'her' face before we left her house and headed on towards the Chupichupyoi Temple, which was nearby thankfully._

"There, that must be the temple," Kumatora said when they saw a building covered in vines.

" _Good, I'm glad we got here before too long. Let's just get this over with,"_ Boney huffed.

"Alright Lucas, you know what to do," Duster said.

Lucas nodded as he started walking towards the vines, ready to pour the Waters of Time over it.

"No you don't!" Someone suddenly shouted before Lucas was shoved away from the entrance.

To everyone's shock, the Masked Man was there. He landed in front of the Chupichupyoi Temple's entrance and had his arm cannon ready and his lightning sword activated in his other hand. "I'm not letting you get another Needle, not _this_ time." His tone was surprisingly a lot colder than the other times they've met him.

"I can't believe it! How do you _always_ appear just before we get to the Needle!?" Kumatora snapped. "Where's your big bad army, huh? If it's just you then you should be easy to knock out! And this time those vines will keep you from pulling another Needle!"

The Masked Man didn't retort to Kumatora's wrath like he usually did, instead his red eye grew colder, making Lucas gulp in intimidation as he had never seen the Masked Man like this before.

The Masked Man crouched a little into a battle position, showing he was _dead serious_ about fighting them, this time with everything he's got. His arm cannon was crossed under his sword wielding hand, ready to fire at them and to slash with his sword if they get too close.

"You can pull the Needle… over my dead body," He hissed coldly.

"P-please, let's not fight!" Lucas begged as he stood up. "I don't want to fight you!"

"No, you don't. Leave now and never come back here again," The Masked Man said, his cold tone never changing.

"Like HECK we will!" Kumatora snapped hotly.

"Very well, then I will not hesitate to attack," The Masked Man said before he jumped and slashed down his sword at Kumatora without hesitation.

"LOOK OUT!" Lucas yelled for her.


	36. Chapter 36: The Clash Between Brothers

**DarkFoxKit: *Is fluffing up some pillows on a nice bed* Hmm… yeah, looks good. c:**

 **Donfyre: *walks up behind Fox* Fox? What're you dooooing?**

 **DarkFoxKit: Hey Fyre, it's late and I decided to make your bed for you. Does it look comfy enough~?**

 **Donfyre: *looks at Fox with a confused look* Uhhh… I guess? That was… really nice of you to do that. But I already made my bed this morning, I don't see why you had to do it again. ^^; But… thanks anyways?**

 **DarkFoxKit: This is a special bed. :3 *gestures to it* Why don't you lie down and find out for yourself?**

 **Donfyre: *is now looking at Fox suspiciously* … I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Besides, it DOES look pretty comfy… *lies down on the center of the bed* Is there a reason you're doing this? We are live now in case you didn't notice, unless you were the one who so conveniently placed the camera right in front of the bed. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yup! Just… wanted to get your reaction to how comfy the bed is. *Watches Fyre get into the bed, Fox grabs the blanket and wraps Fyre's body around it.* There we go, all snugged now?**

 **Donfyre: AGAIN!? DX *tries squirming out of the wrapped up blanket, but wasn't able to* H-hey, what'd you do this time?!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Just tied you up so you can't escape from m- I mean to make you nice and warm tonight. :3 Anyways, you go ahead and get some sleep while I answer the AN.**

 **Donfyre: Wah! *pouts* Fiiiiine, I'll do that, you overprotective Foxy. Anyways, guess I'll just say to enjoy this new chapter, readers!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Ooooh yes, it's a very fun one for us~ *snuggles up to Fyre***

* * *

 **Shimo no ko: Hah, too bad Claus doesn't agree with you. Yeah, Lucas and Ionia are probably the closest with each other, and I didn't feel the need to change that, although this time Claus is closest to Locria. As for the Negative Man, it was just a little something I decided to add into the chapter, because I found him by accident on my first playthrough of the game and was very… well I felt very sorry for him was all I could say. ^^' Ah yes, I'll never forget spending hours grinding off of those Hefty Head enemies trying to get the Mystic Stick, it was totally worth it. And Lucas kinda just learned it on his own… heck that's how the game explains it, they get a fever and just know how to do it. But for a PSI they can already use, I usually say they worked on it for it to get stronger like in the beta or gamma levels. And hey, Claus got there pretty fast in the game too, so yeah… jetwings for the win.**

 **FanofFiction123 : Yeeeeah, sorry, but every story's got to have an end at some point. ^^' Uh… who said that? I didn't disappear. ^^' Heh, yup, Boney is the best. :3 And heads up Lucas, the Claus storm is about to hit! Hey! I didn't kill Fyre, he's safe and sound in his little bed beside me. :3 **

**Bloxxerstudios1 : Hope you enjoyed the cliffhanger all week. :3**

 **An Unknown Guest : Cause I'm evil like that. Hope this chapter was worth the wait!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Alright, that's all the reviews for the last chapter… and now it's time to sleep. *scoots over to Fyre and curls up around him* I am DarkFoxKit… *yawn* this is Donfyre… and we both… look… forward… to hearing… from… y… o… u… Zzzzz**

* * *

 **Chapter 36: The Clash Between Brothers**

 _When I forced myself to face Lucas and the others today, I had to steel myself and harden my heart. I couldn't afford to let him pull another Needle. I couldn't afford to pull it myself. As long as those vines are there, I can't pull it and I won't let him pull it either, because after Ionia's Needle, Locria's next and I won't let that happen. I must forget Lucas is my twin brother… he is my enemy and that is all I need to see him as. I can't let them do this, I must protect this world even if it means hurting my own brother._

* * *

Lucas put up a shield around Kumatora just before Claus slashed at her with his sword, protecting her from a potentially deadly attack. Even with the shield it still hurt her enough to push her back a few feet.

"OW! You'll pay for that, Commander of those dang Pigsnots!" Kumatora held up her hand and fired a powerful PK Fire gamma at him. Lucas tried to stop her but she had already fired the attack before he was able to. Claus took the brunt of the attack since it spread so far, grunting to himself.

"N-no…" Lucas said to himself. He knew that they couldn't avoid fighting now, seeing Boney and Duster run up beside Kumatora to help.

Claus knew Lucas didn't want to fight, but he forced himself to shut down all emotion until this was over, he couldn't afford to go soft now. Utilizing his Thunder Striker, he charged up a powerful lightning.

"PK Thunder omega!" He shot out four powerful bolts of lightning at once at the group, forgetting that Lucas was still wearing the Franklin Badge.

The lightning hit the entire group but didn't knock them out like last time as they were more ready for it, but it still did a lot of damage. Lucas's Franklin Badge reflected one of the bolts of lightning back at Claus, who hissed and silently cursed himself for giving his brother such a deadly accessory that's now being used against him.

"Lucky little thing those Mr. Saturns gave ya, Lucas." Kumatora grunted, steeling herself after that lightning attack.

"I-I guess so…" Lucas said, frowning and looking down at his badge. Claus saw that it still looked like he didn't want to fight, but even so Lucas focused on his PSI and yelled out. "Defense Up omega!"

Claus gritted his teeth when he saw that Lucas used that move. It would be a LOT harder now to take them all out with that defense buff, as if it wasn't unfair already that he had to fight one against four. _They make a deadly combination with someone who can use offensive PSI and someone who can use assist PSI. Not to mention Boney and Duster are pretty fast._

Claus analyzed the situation, trying to keep an eye on all four of them. Boney ran at him to bite his arm, but the masked boy shot his PSI Cannon at the dog to force him away, but Duster soon came in to kick Claus in the gut. The boy cringed but swung his sword at the man, slamming him down into the ground. Thanks to Lucas's Defense Up boost that didn't hurt Duster as much as it should have.

"How about I give you a taste of your own medicine? PK Thunder!" Kumatora summoned bolts of lightning of her own at Claus.

Claus always hated being hit by lightning as his metallic arm or Thunder Striker always draw them to him. He managed to dodge two bolts after having a lot of practice with those robots back on Tanetane Island, but Kumatora's lightning hit much harder when he was struck by a bolt.

Despite this, the young commander didn't back down. He fired his PSI Cannon at them, scattering the group a bit. "PK Fire gamma!" He spread out flames at them, burning their bodies with searing fire. He had to keep squashing down his heart when he heard Boney and Lucas crying out in pain.

"PSI Shield!" Lucas shouted, covering his body in a purple-ish shield. "Counter omega!" Then he covered his entire party with a golden shield.

Claus was no fool, he knew his brother specializes in shields and he wasn't going to let that stop him. Claus emotionlessly reached into his pocket and threw a tiny rocket over them. The rocket went through all four of them and completely destroyed the Counter Lucas had on them, including Lucas's own PSI Shield. The little rocket came back to Claus.

"You should learn new tricks, Lucas. I picked up the Shield Killer before coming here to fight you," Claus said, keeping his tone cold.

"The… what?" Lucas said, trying to refocus.

"Ack, our shields!" Kumatora cried out, when she noticed their shields were gone too. She looked over at Lucas and saw him trying to refocus. "Don't stress yourself out too much, Lucas! We can survive without shields every now and then, we're not going to let this Masked Man win."

"R-right…" Lucas said, instead trying to focus on using another PSI.

"No you don't!" Claus steeled himself and quickly closed in on Lucas, slashing at him with his Thunder Striker and sending him a few feet back. He felt his heart drop again when he heard Lucas cry out in pain, but he had to crush those feelings now. He suddenly felt a force knock him back and saw that Boney had pounced on him.

" _How dare you hurt Lucas! I'm going to make you pay for that!"_ Boney growled as he bit into Claus's shoulder.

Claus jerked his arm back at the dog and threw him off before he used his sword to slam Boney into the vines. He turned and fired his PSI Cannon at Lucas and Kumatora, sending the two back.

"PK Freeze gamma!" He shot ice crystals around Kumatora, freezing her body.

Lucas looked like he was trying to concentrate on another PSI, but Claus wasn't going to give his brother the time to focus. Claus charged at him with his sword in hand, Lucas saw him coming and reacted quickly by grabbing his Mystic Stick to defend. The Mystic Stick came into a clang with Claus's Thunder Striker, Claus pushing Lucas back while Lucas had the stick over his throat to keep from being slashed by the sword.

"Why don't you quit!? Is this Needle worth losing _everything_!?" Claus snapped at Lucas after pushing him back. The smaller boy grunted as he was pushed back, looking back at Claus with dismay.

"I-I have to do this," Lucas said, shaking his head and trying to respond back at Claus's determined look with one of his. "This world will keep wilting until something can recreate it… and only the Dark Dragon can do that! Eventually the Pigmasks won't be able to do much anymore, but with the Dragon released, it can make this entire world safe and reborn again."

"You just assume that. The Pigmasks are succeeding in their endeavours and I rather the progress for rebuilding the world was slow rather than killing every living thing off just for a slight chance the Dragon would be kind enough to rebirth everything!" The young commander snapped.

Boney and Duster were trying to sneak up behind him, unfortunately for them Claus's synthetic eye easily picked up on them. He raised his Thunder Striker. "PK Thunder beta!" Summoning two bolts of lightning, they came down and struck Duster and Boney from behind without the masked boy even turning around.

"Just like our situation. It's easier to go in a group to get things done and fight off your enemies. I had to go at it alone for the majority of it." Claus hissed, his voice growing cold again. "And I won't stop until I succeed in my mission. If you really have the same resolve, Lucas, I suggest you stop holding back."

Lucas frowned in dismay and took a few steps back, shaking his head with each step. "I-I really wish that we didn't have to fight… B-but… PK Love Beta!"

Claus didn't expect him to use a slightly weaker version of PK Love, but nonetheless the attack still hurt him a lot as the hexagonal pieces shot out from Lucas and made contact with Claus before he had time to make a move himself.

"Grr… is that all you have, Lucas? I thought that you had learned PK Love Gamma," Claus said, regaining his resolve and standing back in fighting posture.

Lucas didn't say anything, just shook his head and took another step back.

"Stop harassing him, human freak!" Claus suddenly heard Kumatora yell behind him. She was using her inner fire to melt the ice he trapped her in earlier, and she was going to get out very soon.

"I'm really tired of dealing with you and your attitude," Claus said coldly to her. "Brainshock." He sent a wave of distortion at her way.

"A-ack! Grr…." Kumatora growled when the Brainshock hit her. The ice around her ceased to melt and now all she was focused on was holding her head and squirming her upper body around.

"Kumatora!" Lucas yelled when he saw what Claus did to her. He looked over at Claus once before focusing on another PSI. "Lifeup omega!"

Lucas covered his entire party in green light even though he wasn't touching them. Healing their wounds up from all of the Masked Man's brutal assault.

"You have a very troublesome PSI," Claus growled. "Defense down omega!"

Like how Lucas surrounded his party with a green aura, Claus surrounded them with a blue aura, canceling out the defense boost Lucas gave them earlier.

"PK Love Gamma!" He shot out the powerful blue energy from his chest as it flew into the sky and the hexagonal energy fell down like meteors upon the group.

"N-no!" Lucas shouted when he saw Claus's attack on them, reaching a hand out to all of them.

Boney whimpered and Duster groaned, trying to stand up from such an attack. Kumatora was still trying to get her senses back together. Lucas was face-to-face with the commander of the Pigmasks. Claus reactivated his Thunder Striker after his PK Love attack and began walking towards Lucas.

Lucas took another step back, with his head down and now slowly shaking his head. "W-why…? Why do we have to fight like this?"

Claus was still advancing towards Lucas, his Thunder Striker active and ready to strike at his side. "I told you already. That Dragon that you're so determined to release will do nothing but destroy everyone in place of this new world. The Pigmasks are trying their hardest to help this world, yet you time and time again keep standing in our way."

"T-the Pigmasks aren't helping! They're _delaying_ it!" Lucas said with such a loud and clear voice that it even surprised Claus. "W-we have to do this… If we don't do it now, then everyone in the future will have to suffer with the world continuing to die anyways…"

"And how do you know that? Everyone thinks they're right," Claus said back. "I won't stand for it."

Claus swung his Thunder Striker at Lucas, causing the other boy to cry out in pain before Claus shot out his PSI Cannon at him.

"PK Fire Omega!" Kumatora suddenly shouted out, shooting out a tornado of fire out of nowhere.

Claus yelled out in pain as the twister of flames licked his body, he had been so distracted with Lucas that he failed to realize that Kumatora must've snapped back to her senses.

"Don't let his twisted words get to you, Lucas! Get back at him!" Kumatora encouraged. She was so close to ridding herself of the ice, the chunk now just down to her ankles.

"I-I…" Lucas eventually submitted to the pressure, squeezing his eyes shut and focusing on his most powerful PSI. "P… PK Love Gamma!"

Just like with Claus's earlier PK Love Gamma, Lucas unleashed the powerful blue energy into the sky as it rain down on Claus since he wasn't going to hurt his friends with it. The boy tried to dodge the hexagonal meteors, but he was unable to, just like with the Starstorm with those robots, he was beaten into the ground with the powerful attack.

Lucas ran at him and used a portion of his PK Love to hit him with his Mystic Stick. Claus responded back with Thunder Striker, but with both weapons powered by their PSI, they were at a stalemate. Boney, Duster and Kumatora managed to get out of their predicament and ran over at them. Boney tackled the young boy, Duster kicked him and Kumatora was more than happy to punch him.

Claus hissed and was in a lot of pain, but he refused to give up now. Despite Lucas having the Franklin Badge, he chanced another PK Thunder attack.

"PK Thunder omega!" Four bolts of lightning struck down on them, Lucas's Franklin Badge reflecting it right back at Claus, who took the hit before he charged at Lucas while the other three paralyzed from the attack.

Lucas gritted his teeth as he held back the commander's sword with his Mystic Stick again, putting in portions of his PK Love to enhance it. He used one of his foot to kick the other boy back, and noticed something flying out of his pocket.

"Huh?" The small object bounced a bit on the grass before it rolled in front of him, showing Lucas a picture of himself, Claus, Flint and Hinawa. It was… "The M-Memory Badge!? But I made this for Claus on our birthday!" He immediately stopped before staring at the masked boy. "... Claus…?"

* * *

Claus himself was weak and tired. He barely had any PSI left in this fight and he didn't have the recovery of the Energizing Mushroom with him, not that he _wanted_ it anymore after the hallucinations it gave him. The boy looked up when Lucas said his name, and paled when he noticed Lucas was holding the Memory Badge he kept safely in his pocket.

"W-what… Give me that!" Claus said, marching up to take the Memory Badge away. Lucas wouldn't comply though, reeling his hand back when Claus made a grab for it.

"I-I knew it… There's no other reason why you would have this… It's really _you_ , isn't it, Claus?" Lucas muttered, looking back up at Claus with a sad look in his eyes.

"No, I'm not Claus. I just took that from him," Claus said, not wanting Lucas to cry and trying to steel his resolve. "Now give it back."

"You're not Claus?" Lucas responded, frowning. He still refused to give back the badge. "Then why don't you take off that helmet then? I've never seen you without it."

"I'm not taking it off just because you said so." Claus glared. "Now give me the badge back."

Lucas ran away a few steps, still holding the badge, stopping and looking back at Claus. "I won't attack you! J-just… take off your helmet, even for just a second… I-if you don't... then I'll _know_ it's you."

"I'm not Claus!" Claus snapped as he ran at Lucas to slam his Thunder Striker at him. Lucas shut his eyes and braced himself for the impact… but when it hit, it didn't hurt much. Opening his eyes, he saw the Thunder Striker was deactivated and was nothing more than a hilt that hit his chest.

Claus looked at the hilt. The masked boy knew his PSI didn't run out, but he had deactivated it because he couldn't stand to hurt his brother anymore. "J-just give me back the badge, Lucas."

Lucas didn't do that. He didn't do anything at first. Then without warning he swiftly took one hand and grabbed the side of Claus's helmet before throwing it off his head. Before Claus could react, his face was exposed. His ginger hair now showed off in broad daylight, even though the sun was setting at this point, with his one organic eye now showing.

"C-Claus…" Lucas said quietly, taking another step back and holding the Memory Badge to his chest before a few tears started silently spilling out.

Kumatora and Duster both froze when they saw the boy themselves, they remembered Lucas's suspicions of the Masked Man being Claus but they didn't think it was actually possible. Boney was staring, his jaw hit the ground.

Claus was in shock that he had just been exposed to Lucas after all this time of keeping his identity a secret. He looked around at the others as a cold panic began to enter his system. Claus couldn't bear this, the hate he's bound to receive from the real Lucas would be more than he could bear, especially after what he had done with their father. The panicking boy activated his jetwings, snapping everyone out of their initial shock and he began to take off into the sky.

"W-wait, we're not finished with you!" Kumatora shouted out, being the first to react. She ran forward and tried shooting a PK Freeze at him to slow him down.

Claus hissed as his jetwings weakened from the PK Freeze and tried to fly higher before Lucas ran and jumped at him, grabbing his waist. Boney was next as he grabbed onto Lucas's pants. Duster used his Rope Snake to grab onto Claus's leg and Kumatora grabbed onto Duster's legs.

With so many people and dog and snake on him at once, the jetwings were having trouble flying through the air. Claus tried to get them off him but they hung on tight, refusing to let go. The jetwings flew in an erratic pattern with all the weight on it and it soon began to malfunction. Claus was already low on PSI and pouring anymore into the jetwings like this would make him pass out for sure. He had no choice but to shut off the jetwings and in doing so everyone began to fall. They all crashed into an empty castle down below.

* * *

Claus was the first to recover, still not willing to let the others get to him. "A castle? Where even…" _Ack, doesn't matter, all that matters is that I get AWAY until I can find a place where I can rest up a little…_ He quickly stood up and began running away, away from those four. He hissed in pain as his entire body ached in protest, but he forced it to go.

Boney was next to get back up, barking at Claus as he ran away. _"Hey! Get back here, you… Just get back here!"_

"Claus!" Lucas called.

Claus didn't stop, he kept going and hurried into another hallway of the castle.

" _Why didn't you tell me you were a commander of the Pigmask army? Why did you have to hide your PSI from me for all these years? I'm hurt that you did that."_

" _Oh really? Was the secret so important that you felt you had to hurt me physically just to keep it a secret?You fought with me, you almost killed me, you pulled the other Needles and yet you had the audacity to judge me and say you're just trying to rebuild the world? Like you said… we're enemies now. I don't need you anymore, Claus, I have my friends and they're much more of a family to me than you ever were."_

" _And look at yourself, you've practically became their volunteered human chimera. Look at that arm and your eye, you've become a chimera, Claus. You're not my brother anymore, you're just a brainwashed monster doing the Pigmasks' will."_

Claus could hear it all; it was straight from the illusion Lucas's mouth, and yet he could hear it very clearly. Lucas would never understand, and now he would hate him forever, especially after he had been hurting him so much. Claus had only wanted to save everyone from the destruction of the Dark Dragon, was that so wrong?

The tired boy ran into a dark room and stayed by the corner, hoping to rest up there. But it didn't take long for him to hear footsteps coming his way. _No! How did they find me so quickly!?_

" _He's nearby, I can smell him!"_ he heard Boney barking. Of _course_ that dog could smell his scent.

Claus stood up and ran out of the room as fast as he could before they were able to corner him in there. Running down the hallway again, he was trying to find a way to get away from them. There were some pretty big gaps the higher up he went in the castle, but he used his PSI on his jetwings to help him jump over those gaps, but he didn't have enough to fly right now.

Claus didn't stop, he kept going despite every muscle in his body screaming at him to stop. _I can't stop now… I have to… hide…_

He felt very dizzy and was forced to slow down, he put his hand on the side of his spinning head and stumbled further ahead. He found another door into a room and curled himself at a corner, hoping maybe he was far away enough from Boney so he couldn't smell him.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Claus snapped his head up when he heard someone over him… it looked like a… ghost? "My, you look pretty much half dead boy."

"... I'm just… in hiding right now," Claus said to the ghost, too exhausted to be shocked or scared at the moment.

"Welcome to Osohe Castle then," The ghost chuckled. "Why are you hiding?"

"Just… personal reasons," Claus answered.

"Ah, I see. Well have fun with your hiding then," The ghost said before it disappeared.

Claus looked back at the corner, seeing a ghost reminded him of his deceased mother and briefly wondered if she hated him too for what he had become.

"M-Mom… If you were still here… what would you say?" Claus silently asked himself. His synthetic eye picked up signs of life nearing him.

"I can sense his PSI aura around here, it's weak but it's there." He heard Kumatora's voice in a distant.

Claus silently cursed, wishing he had picked up that bracelet from Dr. Andonuts back at the Chimera Lab, but no he _had_ to completely forget about it.

There was a fireplace nearby, maybe it'll provide cover for him. The boy crawled to the fireplace, his head spinning more when he tried to move. But when he squeezed himself into the fireplace there was a pitfall inside, which made him fall. "Ow!"

He landed somewhere in the basement and groaned as he lifted up his head, there was a dried pit, where he assumed water for hot spring used to be judging from the hot spring sign. Too bad there wasn't any water, otherwise he could've used it to rejuvenate himself and get the heck out of here.

Claus had his back against the wall and sighed to himself. _Surely they won't find me all the way down here…_ With that tired thought in mind, Claus began closing his tired eyes, wanting nothing more than to embrace the darkness of the abyss at the moment.

* * *

Meanwhile… Lucas just opened the door of the room he and Kumatora felt Claus was in, but it was strangely empty. "That's odd… I know we sensed him here…"

Boney was sniffing around before he said, _"He WAS here."_

Duster looked over at the fireplace and said, "You know… when I first came here… I remember that fireplace having a pitfall trap that lead me back down into the basement. It's possible Claus went in there to try and hide from us but fell through."

Kumatora sighed and said, "He's obviously very drained right now, he couldn't have gone far. So I say we go for it."

Lucas held onto the Memory Badge to his chest, he nodded as he was the first one to crawl into the fireplace. It didn't take long for the group to fall into the basement and fell on top of each other.

"Ow… please… get… off… of me…" Lucas groaned in pain with having Kumatora, Duster _and_ Boney on top of him.

The other three quickly rolled off of him before Boney barked and ran over at Claus, who had his back against the wall and head dangling; it was clear he was unconscious. Boney gave a small whine.

" _He's out cold,"_ Boney said as Lucas approached his brother. The boy gently touched his head.

"S-should I… should I revive him?" Lucas asked, slightly unsure of himself. He looked back at Boney, Kumatora, and Duster for an answer.

"That might not be a good idea with how he is now," Duster said. "He looked pretty scared when he saw you discovered his identity."

"Lucas, isn't there any way you can talk to him without having to wake him up and possibly strain himself just to run away again?" Kumatora asked the boy.

Lucas frowned to himself. "I don't think there's…" he stopped for a moment when an idea came to his head. "Wait… I… I think there might be a way. But we haven't done this in… a long time…"

"What way is that?" Duster asked curiously.

The blond haired boy sat beside his sleeping brother, making himself comfortable. "We'll be talking in Magicant. I think Kumatora knows what I mean."

Kumatora's eyes lightened in realization. "You mean… you two can talk to each other in Magicant? That's almost unheard of! Magicant is supposed to be a place created by your mind and soul, how could…" then her eyes widened. "... Twins… of course… you two practically share the same soul!"

"But how would Lucas talk to him in this Magicant?" Duster asked.

"I think they have to be asleep with each other," Kumatora said.

"Wait, _you're going to sleep, Lucas?"_ Boney whined.

Lucas nodded his head, both to Kumatora and Boney. "Nothing bad's gonna happen, Boney. Both me and Claus should be fine. Just, um… try to make sure nothing bad happens to us while we're asleep."

"Well this place isn't exactly the safest place to sleep." Duster frowned. "But you go on ahead and talk to your brother. Kumatora and I will piggyback both of you to Ionia's place."

"We are?" Kumatora looked at Duster.

"Yes, if we want at least one of them to pull the Needle there," Duster said to her.

"Right… fine. I'll take the ginger hair, you take Lucas," Kumatora said.

"Wait, really? I thought you hated Claus," Duster asked, surprised.

"I don't hate Claus, I just hate the Masked Man." She shrugged.

The two of them looked back at Lucas and Claus. Lucas had already closed his eyes with his head on Claus's shoulder, looking ready to sleep if he wasn't already.

" _Aw, those two look so cute together!"_ Boney said, going up to the two of them and nuzzling both of them.

"... Still trying to sleep, Boney," Lucas said with his eyes still closed.

Boney walked over to them and laid on both of their legs, to help keep them warm like a blanket. _"Then sweet dreams to you."_

 **End of Part 5**


	37. Chapter 37: Reunited

**DarkFoxKit: *Is looking at a small, toy house* Hey, how long are you going to sleep in that tiny bed?**

 **Donfyre: *his tiny voice could be heard* Whaaaat? It's cozy! And I'm tired!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Come ooooon! You've been in that house for a week, the readers are waiting for us to update! DX**

 **Donfyre: *eventually walks out of the house, grumbling* Well, maybe you shouldn't have shrunk me for "fun". *looks at the camera* Heya readers! Welcome back to the first chapter of Part 6!**

 **DarkFoxKit: I didn't shrink you, you drank that shrinking potion I put on the table. And hey readers, we needed a break last week and this is the final Part of the story. It's hard to believe that the story's coming to an end, right? And uh… don't mind the ant sized Fyre here, he should be back to normal soon… I hope.**

 **Donfyre: You** _ **hope**_ **? DX And hey, even if I** _ **maybe**_ **drank that potion without permission, what were you doing with a shrink potion in the first place?**

 **DarkFoxKit: … Nooooothing suspicious… *shifts eyes* Erm… h-hey, why don't you go make yourself some breakfast in your tiny kitchen? I'm gonna answer back the reviews before we have a rampage from angry fans who didn't like waiting another week.**

 **Donfyre: *looks at Fox suspiciously before heading back into the house* Alriiiiight… Well, you have fun managing that then! :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: *Is pouting***

* * *

 **Shimo no ko :** **Hee, hee, hee, cute fluff. :3 Yeah, most people believed I would've waited until near the end of the story to reveal Claus, but nah, it's always been my plan to reveal him at the sixth Needle. I'm glad to know you were rooting for Claus, because honestly I kinda was too when we wrote this battle scene. XD And Claus really didn't want to admit his identity, after three years of keeping it a secret, was revealed. And yup, Magicant plays an important role between these two brothers, plus it was a shame it wasn't used in the actual game. Glad you're enjoying this! :D**

 **Sunflowermaiden210** **: Getting emotionally invested, are we? Good, that means we're doing a good job. :3**

 **FanofFiction123** **: Title's pretty exciting, huh? Wow, really? I'd love to have the Masked Man in a Smash Bros game myself! :D Thank you! And yup, the reveal happened. Hee, hee, hee, a mess huh? That would've been fun to see. X3 And now, because of Undertale, the word 'determination' will trigger the fandom. This part was written long before Undertale was a game. ^^' And we're glad you enjoyed this a lot. XD**

 **Karnelian:** **Yes, yes it has. The question now is… will Claus be able to handle it?**

 **Bloxxerstudios1** **: Sorry, but I update at my own pace. So ya gotta deal with cliffhangers. :3**

 **Joltik12** **: You and just about everyone else had been hyping it up. ^^' As for your questions… 1. Not too much longer, this is the last Part after all. 2. Donfyre's a great writer, he's just really busy with school and his life. He's worked hard with me for the past couple of years, so please be a little more appreciated towards him. 3. There's a fan game of Mother 4 in the making, so most likely it'll be on the computer if they ever finish it.**

 **crazyone-oh-one** **: Character growth is something I love working on. And thank you for your support!**

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: Welp, that's everyone. *looks back at the toy house* Hey, are you burning something in there? Where did you get pancake batter that small? In fact how are you even cooking with a plastic frying pan?**

 **Donfyre: *a small section of the house suddenly burst into flames… and more… until the house was engulfed in flames! Fyre jumped out through one of the windows* Oof! O-oh, you're finished already! I'm almost finished with my meal, as you can see. *looks back at the house* Those huge flames should, uh… tenderize the batter nicely. That's… how it works, right?**

 **DarkFoxKit: … *uses the fire extinguisher to put out the fire* … Let's… put you in a safer environment. *picks up the small Fyre and put him on my head* Until next time, everyone, I am DarkFoxKit, and hopefully we can get Donfyre here back to normal size by the next AN… and we look forward to hearing from you!**

* * *

 **Chapter 37: Reunited**

 _It felt cold for a while… dark and lonely… I could hear them… I could hear their voices, their rejection and hatred. They know who I am now… I can't hide it… I'm nothing but a monster to them. What am I going to do now? Once the Pigmasks find out that I pulled three of the seven Needles, I can never go back to them. And now I can't even go home… I just curled into a tight ball in this dark and lonely place, it's fitting for someone who's sunk lower than rock bottom… Strange… it felt like it got brighter and a little warmer…_

 _I didn't know what was happening… And I didn't really know if I liked it either. I wanted to be alone in the dark, but everything just got brighter and a little more colorful around me, along with that warmth. I was in… a town? The buildings were really tall and large though, but there weren't that many. Only a few buildings here and there. Everything was getting brighter, and now I was standing in… a familiar sunflower field. But the buildings were still here. What was a large sunflower field doing in the middle of this town?_

 _I don't remember how I got here… but I rather go back to that dark and lonely place… it's what I deserve after all. I sat near the outskirts of the sunflower field town I was in and saw a few wilted sunflowers here. Good, I want them to wilt so I can go back to my cold solitude… I thought I would be alone here… until I heard footsteps coming up behind me. Great, now what?_

* * *

" _Claus… why are you sitting here? It's not very nice-looking here." It was a very familiar voice, the one whom I dreaded to hear. Lucas._

 _Maybe if I remain still and quiet, he'll go away. Or maybe he'll just go ahead and make fun of me now and get it over with. Either way I just stayed quiet in my curled up position._

" _... Claus? Um… are you alright? I guess I can sit with you here if you really like it that much here." Lucas sat down right next to me, also curled up. Why was he here with me like this? Was he thinking about the ways he should hate me after knowing what I've done? I just looked away from him when he looked at me._

" _Um… Claus? You really were the commander that entire time, weren't you? I thought it might have been… but I still didn't know if it was really you until…" Lucas trailed off. I can still feel him looking at my back, as if waiting for me to say something._

 _I rather just stay silent, but if I don't speak up now then I may never get this off my chest… and knowing my brother, he'll stay with me until I do say something at least._

" _Lucas… don't you hate me?" I asked him quietly._

 _His tone sounded worried when he responded. "N-no, of course not, Claus. Why would I hate my own brother? That would be mean of me."_

" _Because I'm the commander of your enemies. WE are enemies, Lucas. I tried to hurt you back there. I didn't hold back! You SHOULD hate me!" I hadn't realized I was talking louder until I was almost shouting at that point._

" _W-well…" Lucas still sounded worried. "You must have had a good reason, right? Like all those things you told me about wanting to protect this world. I don't blame you for that if you really believed in it. Besides, it was mainly Kumatora who blamed you."_

 _I sighed as I looked away from Lucas. "Don't you get it, Lucas? I've lied to you for years. I've lied to you about not being able to use PSI, that I wasn't really doing anything big, that I was only the 'waterboy' and I kept disappearing on you. Everything I did, I did it to save this world and the people in it, or that's what I keep telling myself…" I picked up a patch of dirt and squeezed it in my hand. "... But… I guess maybe the real reason I joined was because… I wanted to do something great in my life…"_

 _Lucas didn't really say anything for a while. Maybe he finally realized how much of a horrible person I am and he just didn't want to say it out loud. His voice was quiet when he finally did respond. "Um… C-Claus… were you, um, really that jealous of me? All the times you kept telling me that people think I'm the better brother and all that… was it because you were jealous and then you joined the Pigmasks to be that something great?"_

 _I looked down at the river below… why was there a river here? I didn't remember seeing one… Regardless, the river was very clear and I could see my reflection in it. I was back in my casual clothing again. My robotic arm and synthetic eye were all organic again. Yup, this is definitely Magicant._

" _Lucas, you're younger than me by two minutes, but you did everything before me. You were always so kind and ready to help someone, people admired you for that. When I tried to help, they all just said it's because you influenced me. I was only the other twin, the Lucas twin brother to them. I wasn't Claus at all. I didn't have my own identity in the world. So I tried being more outgoing and a bit of a troublemaker even though I don't really like causing trouble, it was the only way to get people to stop looking at me as the other twin. Mom always said you were the smart and sweet one and I was the logical and strong one. It was my duty to protect you, yet it always seems to be the other way around." I can't even believe I'm saying all this to him now._

 _Lucas looked down for a little bit, also looking down at the river. I wondered what was really going on in his head… Maybe he's just trying to cheer me up when he's actually thinking about different things. "That's not true, Claus… You really did help me a lot. Even if maybe other didn't people see, I still saw it. You were really an older brother that I looked up to a lot… Sometimes I would hate myself for being so shy when you can be so active."_

" _People like your shy nature." I pointed out. "And besides… you've made a lot of friends, Lucas. Friends you could rely on way more than you could've ever relied on me. They've stuck with you throughout this journey of yours, while I've been by myself. The army tried to help me, but in the end I had to face all four of you alone, and it terrified me. I hated being on opposite sides, sometimes I wish I could've been a part of your group Lucas, but I know I can never be…" I felt something wet falling from my cheek… no… I can't be crying… not like this, not in front of Lucas!_

" _C-Claus…" Lucas said. It sounded like he might be getting sad too… but what was_ he _getting sad for? He has everything… everything that someone could want… "Y-you said you had PSI but was hiding it from us, right? W-well… why didn't you tell me? We could have… we could've been able to be together on the same side!"_

" _I can't… I couldn't…" I looked away from him, not wanting him to see my face like this. "By the time I awakened my PSI… I was… I joined the Pigmask army and they made me promise not to tell you or anyone else. Because nobody would understand what they're trying to do, everyone would be against them and against me if they ever find out. I couldn't tell you Lucas… I knew you'd hate me for it."_

 _Lucas was silent again. A few long moments passed and he still didn't say anything. I just kept looking into the river, at the reflection of what could have been if things were different… Maybe if Fassad had never found me with my PSI, or maybe one of those other Magypsies had noticed me then I could have been with Lucas instead… I felt more damp things moving down my face… I didn't want to cry, not here, but…_

Lucas finally hugged me after all that silence, catching me by surprise. He was sniffling to himself… was he crying too? "I-I'm sorry, Claus… that all of that happened to you… b-but I don't hate you, I really don't… Even though you had to do all those things to us."

" _Why don't you? And even if you don't… I'm sure everyone else will… Dad, Boney, Duster, heck I'd be surprised if Kumatora DIDN'T all out hate me right now." I frowned at him. "I've pulled three Needles… the Pigmasks… if they ever find out… I can never go back to them. I… Lucas… I don't know what else to do… I just feel so lost and alone right now." Why am I telling him this? This isn't something I should say to him! And yet I can't stop myself… this happens every time I'm in Magicant with him, I can't keep anything a secret._

" _Boney will forgive you. I'm sure he will…" Lucas responded quietly. "And Duster's pretty forgiving, and if I talk to Kumatora enough I'm sure she'll forgive you… y-you could… always travel with us… But do you still really believe that the Needles shouldn't be pulled?"_

 _I looked over to him, that kind of question didn't seem to have a right answer to it. "Why do you think we should pull the Needles, Lucas?" I answered his question with my own._

 _Lucas obviously didn't expect this, judging from the surprised look on his face. "Huh? Oh well… the world is falling apart, the Magypsies told me that. And since you're with the Pigmasks I'm sure you've seen it too. I just… I just believe that the Dark Dragon is really the only way to help everyone. And if I really believe in it, I'm sure that it won't kill off everyone else…"_

" _Is that what the Magypsies told you?" I asked him. Lucas blinked before nodding to me. "The Dark Dragon has incredible power, Lucas, but don't you think maybe there was a reason why it was put to sleep and locked away with all these Needles in the first place? What do you think will happen to the old world once it starts to create a new one in its place? In order to create a new world… the old one must go first, along with everyone in it. In other words… it'll be the end of the world, no ifs ands or buts about it."_

 _Lucas frowned. "Did the Pigmasks tell you that? Where did you learn about that?"_

" _Actually a Magypsy told me that," I answered. "But he didn't tell me all that specifically, I just looked at it from a logical standpoint. The Dragon will have to destroy this world before it can be reborn. How would it spare anyone once the world is destroyed? Nobody can be spared. That's why the Pigmasks have been working hard to try and rebuild the world themselves, it's our only way to survive."_

" _But… if a Magypsy told you that, then you probably know that the Dark Dragon will assume the heart of the person who pulls the Needles. I-I'm sure… I'm sure that it'll spare everyone if I really put my mind into it when pulling the Needles… it's the one thing I silently ask for when I pull them…" Lucas protested. I started to doubt that he would be persuaded any other way… Never knew him to be the stubborn type, then again he must've inherited_ something _from our father._

" _Yes, I am aware of that, Lucas," I told him. "However, I just don't see it happening. I don't see how it's at all possible to spare the lives of people living on the world that it has to destroy. And besides… what would happen if I did pull more Needles than you? It wouldn't matter in the end… we'd all be dead. I suppose one good thing would be is that we'll reunite with Mom again…"_

" _D-don't say that, Claus!" Lucas suddenly said loudly with a small frown on his face. "You just… just have to believe the Dark Dragon can save everyone. I'm sure it will, I've been believing in it since I was asked to pull these Needles."_

" _Heh… you've always had more hope in your spirit than I did, Lucas," I chuckled at him with a sad smile on my face. "It was another thing I envied about you. Maybe you're right, maybe the Dragon will spare everyone somehow. But I also can't let go of my own beliefs either… I'm worried that it'll just kill us all before it rebirths the world," I sighed. "I guess it doesn't matter… I can't exactly be the commander or a part of the Pigmasks anymore…"_

 _Lucas didn't say anything. He still kept hugging me but didn't say anything for a long time. We just sat near in this field of wilted sunflowers looking at the river and the town that had the sunflower field. After a while of this, Lucas finally said something. "So…. what are you going to do now then? You can… you still have a place travelling with us… I'd really like it and probably Boney too, and I'm sure Duster and Kumatora won't mind if I talk to them…"_

" _I don't know… I was thinking about just going to the city and see if Fas- Wait…" My eyes went wide when I remembered something. "Lucas, you guys found me unconscious? And oh dear… is Fassad okay? Are the Pigmasks at the base okay? Did they survive? What happened to them?"_

" _H-huh?" Lucas looked confused at all this. "Um… I-I don't know, I remember Dad saying something about helping to transport them over to that New Pork City place… Why do you ask?"_

 _I looked down worriedly. "Because… the last time I saw them… was before I went to Tanetane Island… the entire base was destroyed. All the Pigmasks were badly injured, and even Fassad… I only saw Dr. Andonuts approaching him with tools, but I didn't see what happened to him." Then I looked at him again. "And you all found me unconscious? Oh my heavens! Kumatora's gonna KILL ME!" I wasn't kidding either, I was genuinely panicking that I let myself be vulnerable to someone so dangerous like that._

" _H-hey, it's alright Claus! I told the three others, Boney, Duster, and Kumatora to make sure we don't get hurt while we're both asleep. They'll take care of us, I promise," Lucas said. I calmed down a little bit, but I was still wary that I'd be attacked in my sleep either way. "So… that's why you really went to Tanetane Island then… and the reason you washed up on the beach where Dad found you was after you tried to run away from us…"_

 _I flinched at that as I remembered I did panicked and ran away from him. "I-I'm sorry Lucas… I… I just didn't want you to know that I was the commander… that I was your enemy… You… I thought you hated me, and wanted to kill yourself because of what I did. It was a hallucination, but it scared me so much that I thought you really would do that if you ever found out." I found myself hugging him without really meaning to. I didn't want to let him go in fear that he would disappear all of a sudden. "I don't want you to die Lucas! Especially because of me!"_

" _Wah!" Lucas exclaimed. He looked surprised at first but quickly returned the hug. "I-it's okay Claus, really. At least now you know that I really don't hate you, you don't have to keep hating yourself. I forgive you and I'm sure everyone else will."_

" _But how do you know that anyone else will? I was a part of the enemy, or so they think. I hurt them and you, how could you just forgive me like that?" I wanted to pull out of the hug, but I didn't want to let Lucas go. "It's pretty much over for me."_

 _Lucas was still hugging me tightly. "W-well… no one but the Pigmasks has to know it was you… And I already said before; the other three will forgive you if I talk to them. Just look, Kumatora hasn't even hurt you even after all this time in Magicant."_

" _She's probably planning to get her revenge on me once I wake up," I said bitterly. "Lucas… once we leave Magicant… are you still going to pull that Needle in the temple?"_

 _Lucas stayed silent for a moment, but he eventually responded with a simple answer, and one that I wasn't surprised to hear. "... Yes."_

* * *

 _I sighed as I managed to pull back from the hug and looked back down at the river. It was almost unusual seeing my reflection like this after spending so much time as the Commander, I almost look like a stranger to myself. Whatever happened to that innocent and carefree boy who just loved playing with his brother on a sunny day?_

 _When I hadn't given an answer back to Lucas, he put his hand on my shoulder. He most likely already knows that I still don't want him to pull the Needle._

" _I'm… um, I'm sorry Claus… I know you don't want me to pull it, but I still feel like I have to… What are you going to do? A-are you… still going to try and stop me?" Lucas's voice sounded down and worried. I also knew that he still didn't want us to keep on fighting…_

 _I couldn't help but give a humorless chuckle at that. "You know what, Lucas? I'm tired of it all. I'm tired of being the Commander, I'm tired of always having to travel everywhere, I'm tired of trying to keep a dying world safe, I'm tired of us fighting. I just want everything to go back to the way it was before Mom died…"_

 _Lucas looked a little confused at my response, maybe he wasn't expecting it. Either way, he still looked down at the river too a little sadly. "Yeah… I think everyone wants that… Everyone in Tazmily missed her after… t-that… Maybe… maybe it'll all go back to that soon, Claus."_

 _I felt him holding my hand with his own. I looked over at him and frowned, "How? Nothing's the same anymore. I'm not the same carefree boy who always tried to drag you out of bed to get you to play with me outside. I've been training, for the last three years, as the commanding officer of a military. Everyone's moving to New Pork City and I wouldn't be surprised if nobody other than you even trusted me anymore."_

" _You… really missed those days that much, Claus? I missed it too… a lot." Lucas said. He was still holding my hand, more tightly now. "It's kind of one of the only things I think about… B-but if the Needles are pulled… we can go back to how it was like before, just us having fun like we used to… and if you say I shouldn't pull them… then what then? Everyone will still be working and doing boring things every day, all just to earn this 'money' stuff… I kind of just want everything to be back to how it was like to, where everyone was happy with each other, and there weren't jobs, and everyone didn't get greedy, and…. and…"_

 _I looked over at him. Was he… crying too?_

" _Lucas… why are you crying?" I asked him in a surprisingly gentle tone. I hadn't had to use a gentle tone in such a long time that I thought I've forgotten how to._

" _S-sorry Claus… It just all came back to me again… I thought about how M-Mom died again and all those times when I would sit by her grave a-and-" he choked on his words, wiping his eyes. "Sorry… but it's also why I do wanna pull those Needles… everything could go back to how it used to… m-maybe Mom might not be there… but we could still live to how everything was before Tazmily started to change."_

" _Pulling those Needles are a sign of hope to you," I said as I realized this. "I guess in a way it's a sign of hope for the world too. I'm aware the Dragon can rewrite the world and rebirth it into something better. However… what good would that do in the end Lucas? Humanity will just destroy the world again, nothing will change. It's another reason why I didn't want to pull the Needles… if we don't fix our mistakes, then in the future, humanity will only destroy the world again. It would just be an endless vicious cycle."_

" _What mistakes, Claus?" Lucas said, frowning. Even after all this time, we can still never come to an agreement on this. "You saw how well the Nowhere Islands were before the Pigmasks showed up. Everyone was kind and generous to each other. We always cared about nature and what went on around us… but now everyone's already changed… Whenever I talked to someone in Tazmily it was like they didn't even care, or just didn't even want to talk unless something big happened… I feel like the world just got worse since Mom died and the Pigmasks appeared."_

 _I just sighed as I said, "That's because everyone was ignorant of the world at the time… People are always going to invent money and become greedy eventually… And besides… what would happen if the Dragon does kill us all? What good would it have done for any of us if we just died in the end anyways?"_

" _Claus…" Lucas spoke up as he looked at me in the eyes. "You've put too much pressure and too many burdens on yourself. Is that what you truly believe or is it what the Pigmasks told you? You don't know for sure if that's true."_

 _I sighed again as I looked down. Lucas was right though, I really don't know for sure what would happen once all the Needles are pulled. I just… still want to believe in the Pigmasks though… I've worked with them for three years, I can't just toss out everything they taught me to believe in… but I have been on my own during this adventure while Lucas got his friends supporting his back… "I just don't know Lucas…"_

* * *

 _I felt my hand tingling and looked down at it to see Lucas's hand was sparking a bit with PK Love… what's he doing? I didn't let go of his hand though, instead I just let him do whatever he was doing. My entire body felt tingly as he continued using his PK Love while holding onto my hand._

 _About a minute had passed before it finally subsided. He looked over at me with… was that almost slight pity? "Those times you pulled the Needles, the three of them… they really were accidents? And the last one… that really was me you saw…"_

" _... Of course they were accidents, do you really believe I would be pulling them on purpose after everything I told you?" I asked him, a bit annoyed. "But… what did you just do?"_

" _... Claus, why don't you use a small portion of your PK Love on my hand?" Lucas suggested without really answering my question._

" _Huh? Why?" I asked._

" _You did it before when we were in Magicant. Go on, do it." Lucas prompt._

 _I sighed, he was giving me those puppy dog eyes. Funny how even to this day I can't ever say no to those. "Fine." I concentrated a bit, it was harder for me to use smaller portions of PK Love even in Magicant, though I don't know why, it was so easy the first time… But eventually I managed to get a spark of it on Lucas's hand. Lucas's hand also spark with PK Love, and our PSI intertwined with each other._

 _My eyes widen as I suddenly felt like I was watching Lucas's adventures throughout the island from his eyes. It felt so strange yet… nostalgic at the same time. He was giving me a small smile as if he had been expecting this._

" _... You… really put yourself through all this even knowing that you'd be sacrificing the Magypsies and getting your friends hurt?"_

" _Y-yeah…" Lucas replied. He averted his gaze at me for a moment, and I knew he was trying to cope with that reality to himself right now. "I really believe that what I'm doing is… is what I should be doing… Even though I'm still doubtful now and then… Sometimes when you would stop us at the Needles and tell us not to pull them… I almost really did want to believe you, even before I knew who you were Claus… But the Magypsies have really been hopeful in me after all this time, even knowing they'd be sacrificing themselves, and my friends have been supporting me too as they helped me on this whole journey…"_

 _I couldn't help but sigh again, Lucas looked up at me as if in understanding. Yeah, unlike him I didn't exactly have any real friends trying to support my own decisions. The army did try to help me fight, but things kept happening that left me on my own. Salsa even made me doubt them by yelling at how inhumane and cruel the chimera experiments are. After all this time, though, I refused to believe anything else, I wanted to rely on the Pigmasks, that they're right in rebuilding this dying world rather than take the easy way out that could also be the most fatal. It was the only thing that kept me going and fighting against my own brother. But in the end it hurt me more than anything else ever did, even losing Mom didn't hurt as much as it did when I forced myself to fight against Lucas and the people I love… "I still don't know what's right, Lucas… I just felt like I've been fighting for the wrong side… but I just can't believe that they were wrong either…"_

" _Well… maybe we can talk about that later, Claus," Lucas said, smiling at me. "While we're here… maybe I can teach you a thing or two about Magicant."_

 _"What?" I looked at him. "Why? It's basically something your mind and soul created, right? What else is there to know?"_

" _Well… there is still a little more you can know," Lucas said, looking back over at the town with the sunflower fields. "Like… what about the town there? Every time we were here there's always just been a sunflower field, but now there's a town here too. I think… I think that might be a little bit of your PSI merging with mine in this Magicant, Claus."_

" _Wh-what?" I was shocked to hear that. I_ have _been wondering why there was a town here. "Our PSI are merging? H-how? Why? Is this even possible? I-isn't Magicant supposed to be your thing? Why is mine starting to form in yours?" Granted I was freaking out, but I felt like I was not only intruding but forcing my way into my brother's gentle mind and soul._

" _I… don't know," Lucas said, looking a little confused himself as he thought about it. "Maybe it didn't before because when we were in Magicant the last times, you were always trying to hide your PSI from me. But… now both of us know about it, and you've been working with the Pigmasks for a long time now… so maybe your PSI might be more willing to merge with mine in this Magicant, and it's showing up as… well that town I think."_

" _I have been working with a lot of technology and colonies that build cities in the desolate wastelands…" I admitted. "But what will happen if our PSI do merge in Magicant, Lucas? I… I shouldn't even be here, let alone be merging my Magicant with yours…"_

" _You're my twin brother, Claus. We've practically shared the same soul since we were born," Lucas told me. "Stop freaking out over this, okay?"_

"... Oh right… I guess… I've been on the other side for so long I've forgotten we're twins…" I still don't know if this should happen or not, but I decided to just calm down and let things happen, because I was sick of fighting against everything all the time. "Sometimes I wish I could be a little more carefree again like you, Lucas. Having friends and family backing you up, not having to keep secrets all the time, and not being someone everyone thinks is the enemy."

" _W-well… It really still doesn't have to keep being like that… And I'm sure everyone would still love and forgive you…" Lucas responded quietly. "A-anyways… you probably already guessed that Magicant can change depending on the person. Mine… it's always been a sunflower field. I'm not sure why… but recently some of the flowers have been dying on the outskirts. Like the ones right here…" He flicked one of the wilting sunflowers that were all around us._

 _I looked at the wilting sunflowers myself, it didn't take long before logic started to make me think. "I think it's because you've experienced a lot of hardships and losing people you cared about. It always feel like a small part of you dies inside when a Magypsy fades away, and I guess I didn't help when I kept telling you that you're ending the world and everyone in it all the time. Heh… you always were a big softie, Lucas."_

 _He blushed embarrassingly a little at that, "Really? You almost sounded like your old self a little just now."_

 _I frowned and felt heat rushing up my own cheeks when he said that. "What? No way, you're just hearing things. Boney always did say you have an active imagination!"_

 _"Oh, so you did hear the things he's been saying all this time?" Lucas said, looking really interested. "He told me that you once responded to something he said. What else did you hear him say?"_

 _I glared at that smile he had plastered on his face, before I gave a smirk of my own. "Just that you dressed yourself up as a sheep to get passed some stalker who kept yanking you out of the train tunnel. If you wanted to be a sheep, Lucas, I'm sure Dad wouldn't mind feeding you some grass and shaving your wool once in awhile."_

 _He blushed and protested even more at that, "Oh stop that, Claus! I only did it to get past and find_ you _in the first place!"_

 _I laughed at how embarrassed he looked. After such a long time it feels good to just play with him even a little bit. Lucas looked like he finally got past it too, smiling and laughing a tiny bit to himself too._

 _Then I looked down at the river again before smiling at him, then I jumped into the water, splashing him. "Heh, now you're all soaked!" I laughed._

" _Wah! C-Claaaaaus!" Lucas complained. "F-fine… I'm jumping in too!"_

* * *

 _Before I knew it; he got up and splashed into the water right beside me, much to my surprise. I didn't expect it, but I still enjoyed it and splashed him again anyways. For that moment, it felt like all our troubles, the whole Needle pulling, being on opposite sides were completely forgotten, it was just me and Lucas playing together like the kids that we are. As I splashed Lucas into the water, I noticed the wilting sunflowers were starting to turn green and yellow again as they started standing back up. I couldn't help but smile at that just before Lucas grabbed my head and sunk me into the water. I was laughing despite the water, and so was Lucas, both of us were just wrestling away before I became very sleepy. I felt Lucas starting to relax in my arms, he must be getting sleepy too…_

 _The water around us just gently moved us around before I found ourselves gently being pulled under. It was dark, but strangely warm, we could breathe and it didn't even feel wet. It felt nice actually… I found myself closing my eyes as I relaxed in my brother's arms._

* * *

Claus felt a flick to his forehead. A sharp one. Along with a nagging voice.

"Hey! You two cuties gonna wake up any time soon? It's already been a full night and then some."

Claus recognized that voice. One that he dreaded to hear when he woke up… Kumatora.

"Aaaaany day now you two. Actually, I can feel that one of you is already awake. That you Claus? It takes forever to wake up Lucas on a normal day."

Claus was silently cursing himself for not being the heavy sleeper between the two of them. He really didn't want to deal with Kumatora before Lucas was even awake. The boy wasn't sure what to do, he was too afraid to face her and anyone else who's with her.

"Kumatora, give him some time, he's probably terrified of you." Claus heard Duster's voice.

"What!? He's met me before, he shouldn't be _that_ scared." He heard her reply back, almost sounding annoyed.

" _Nooo… I think he has every reason to be scared. After all you did constantly threaten to maim or burn him."_ Claus thought that sounded like Boney right next to him, before he felt something wet drag across his face.

The boy grumbled when he felt Boney's tongue licking his face. Claus slowly blinked open his eyes, he might as well face the music, he just wished his brother would hurry and wake up. "Boney… stop trying to eat my face…"

" _Claus! You're awake!"_ Ignoring what Claus said earlier, he continued licking him happily while the boy just groaned and pulled some blankets over him… Blankets? Last time he checked they were in the castle. _"Come on, don't be such a spoil sport! Let me lick you! I bit you so many times that I need to make up for it with extra licking!"_

Claus quickly sat up, trying to figure out where he was. He was laying in a big bed with his brother beside him. They were in a house rather than an abandoned castle, and he was being stared at by Duster, a Magypsy and Kumatora. Boney was still trying to lick his face.

"W-where am I?" Claus asked with a shaky voice, he sunk down more into the blankets, wishing he could disappear.

"Oh, hello there Claus~!" the Magypsy said first. "I'm Ionia, if you don't remember me, and this is my cute little house you're in! It's been awhile since I've seen you, Lucas's older brother. My, my, you've grown~"

"... H-hi…" Claus was still shrinking in his blanket. "Um… am I your prisoner now?"

He saw Kumatora roll her eyes while the Magypsy kept speaking. "Prisoner? Oh no no no, of course not! I wouldn't do something like that to someone as sweet as you~ I heard from these three that you two had passed out, so I couldn't help but give some hospitality~"

Boney managed to jump over on Claus and continued to lick his face. Claus groaned and tried to push the dog's face down away from his. "But I'm your enemy, remember? I fought with you and tried to stop Lucas from pulling Needles multiple times! Aren't you going to chain me up or at least give me something to keep me from using PSI?"

"Oh, now that's just cruel. What kind of Magypsy would I be if I had to resort to such things?" Ionia responded. "Though these three also told me about the fighting you all have went through, clashing at each other. Though I don't really see what's wrong, your heart feels as pure as ever~!"

Kumatora spoke next, looking at Claus sternly, and he was afraid at what she was going to say. "Look, Claus. I really don't like it that you had to keep pulling a knife- or in this case, a blade, on us like that. And maybe I am still angry that about it too. And that I wouldn't mind using just a _little_ bit of PSI on you to-"

" _You're scaring him! You said you would apologize but you're not doing very good at it!"_ Boney barked at her. He went back to attempting to lick at Claus again.

"Boney! It's not like you hadn't seen me recently!" Claus grumbled, trying to push him back down. "Look Kumatora, I'm sorry that we clashed so much and that you'll most likely never forgive me for it. I'm just doing what I believe is right. I don't _want_ the Needles to be pulled."

"Really? You _still_ believe that!? Ugggh, don't tell me you're still going to keep stopping us at every-" Kumatora's voice was getting louder until Ionia interrupted her.

"Now now Kumatora, I won't allow such anger here~ Let's talk a little bit with him before we go to such rash methods. Besides, you might wake up poor little Lucas."

Kumatora tried to calm herself down at Ionia's request. Duster was next to speak, "Why don't you want the Needles to be pulled, Claus?" he asked gently to the boy.

Claus looked down at his blanket and said, "Because… once the Dark Dragon is released… everyone will die."

"Oh~? Now that's a first I've heard about the Dark Dragon from you." Ionia spoke again, now more interested in listening. "Where did you hear this, young Claus~? If I remember right, only you and Lucas have been pulling the Needles so far. And both of you have such sweet hearts, I can feel it!"

"I don't know about the sweet heart thing." Claus frowned, feeling self conscious as Boney started licking his cheek. "But I was supposed to stop Lucas from pulling the Needles, not pull them myself. And anyways, Fassad was the one who told me about what will happen to the world once the Dragon wakes up. Even if a person with a pure heart pulls it, it still has to destroy the old world before a new one can take its place, which means we'd all go with it."

"Fassad? Now who's this? That does remind me of a Magypsy we used to know, but that one never really agreed with us… ah, Locria… Anywho, it is true that even us Magypsies don't know everything, sad as it is true~ But most of us are all sure that one with a good heart can keep the Dark Dragon from killing off everyone and still create a new world in its place. And who better than sweet little Lucas here~?" Ionia said proudly, playing a little with Lucas's hair.

Claus looked at Lucas and sighed, "Yeah, he's always been the one everyone can count on. I'm just the twin who messes everyone's day, and that hasn't changed at all. I've failed the Pigmasks, and everything I've worked hard for will be in vain."

"Hey, helped our job at least, didn't it?" Kumatora said, smiling smugly. "If there's one thing that's good about you being that Commander it's that your slip-ups helped us in the long run."

"I remember you really despising it when I pulled a Needle." Claus frowned at her. "Besides, now that I'm here, now's your chance to burn my butt off like you always wanted."

Kumatora sighed at that, "Look kid, I'm not _that_ cruel. I just didn't know it was actually you, okay? I swear that if I knew that it was you, I wouldn't have said those things, so… sorry." she looked over at Boney after saying that. "That apology enough for ya?"

Boney rolled his eyes and said, _"It's a start, little miss Princess."_

* * *

"Point is that I mess up no matter what I do. I'm not fit to be the Commander anymore, heck I'm not fit to even be the waterboy of the Pigmasks anymore. All that hard work just went down the toilet the minute I pulled Doria's Needle." Claus hissed.

"So what will you do now, Claus?" Duster asked.

"I don't know… maybe go home and beg my father to take me back after I used Brainshock on him," Claus said. "If he doesn't, maybe I'll just have to go to the city or something and try to make a living myself."

"Whoa whoa whoa, you used Brainshock on your _dad_?" Kumatora said, sounding incredulous. "What did you need to do _that_ for?"

"He wouldn't let me go out to stop Lucas. He found out I was the commander and I didn't know what else to do," Claus answered. "Look, I don't have anywhere else to go so I might as well just go on home or the city, I probably belong there anyways."

"Or… you could come with us, Claus." The boy froze when he heard Lucas's voice say that beside him.

"L-Lucas? You're awake?" Claus looked at him.

"I've been awake since you woke up… I just wanted to see how well you'd talk to them." Lucas said as he sat up.

" _He liiiiiives!"_ Boney howled happily.

"You said you wanted me to join you?" Claus frowned. "But… we're supposed to be on opposite sides… I still don't like the idea of pulling the Needles."

"Still?" Lucas sighed, frowning to himself. "So… even if you were to come with us… you'd still might try to talk me out of pulling the Needles?"

"... I…" Claus hesitated, "It wouldn't matter if I tried to talk you out of it, you'd still do it anyway and I'd just mess everything up. You just do what you feel is right, Lucas." He laid back down on the bed and covered his head with the blanket.

"H-huh? Heeey, C-Claus…" Lucas said, slightly dismayed. Boney tried pawing at the blanket on Claus's head to get it off him. "You can, um…. s-still come with us either way. It would be nice… And you can just, I don't know… maybe walk away for a bit if you don't like seeing me pull the Needle?"

Ionia gave a small sigh before she said, "It seems poor Clausy-poo here is just shaken up. His own beliefs are being put to the test and his love for his family and wanting to go with his friends is tearing him apart. I suggest you give him some time to think about it, okay~? I'm sure he'll come around."

"Huh? Um… a-are you okay with that Claus?" Lucas asked Claus nervously.

Claus still had the blankets over his head. He really wished that he didn't have to make this choice, but he guessed that he really didn't have an option until he came to a conclusion. "... Sure." he mumbled under the blankets.

"A-alright…" Lucas said, nodding his head and getting off the bed. Kumatora and Duster were making their way out, while Lucas had to pull Boney off the bed. "Come on, Boney, he needs some time to think."

" _Awww! But I wanna keep him company! Come on Lucas, I bit and tackled him, I need to be extra nice to him!"_ Boney whined as Lucas dragged him away.

* * *

Only Ionia was left with Claus. The boy himself looked over at her and sighed, "... Do you know a Magypsy named Locria?" he asked Ionia.

"Locria? Ah, yes, of course I do~! I haven't seen that one in a while, but that's the Magypsy who never seemed to quite agree with what we believed in… and we haven't heard from that one in quite a while." Ionia responded.

"All you Magypsies seem to believe pretty strongly in using the Dark Dragon's powers to rebirth the world." Claus said. "So… why did one of you disagree? Did something happen?"

Ionia was sipping her tea before she sighed, "Well… Locria was once like us, we all agreed that one day the Dragon's power will be needed again. But after the king and queen of Oshoe Castle abandoned everyone due to their fear of the Dragon's awakening, Locria slowly began to lose faith in it. I suppose after there was a distortion in the space and time continuum, Locria suddenly began disagreeing, saying what good it is to rebirth the world if it has to get destroyed first. And then Locria just disappeared one day. It's rather sad really, nobody really knows what changed Locria's mind."

Claus wondered if maybe Porky had something to do with that, and he had believed in Porky and now he's being challenged on that belief and his loyalty. "... But if it's true… then why should the Dragon wake up at all?"

Ionia waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, I'm sure you've heard of the old cycle really. Things have to come and go eventually, and this world is one of those things. Eventually this world's going to need to go, the signs are already showing, and the only way for this world to come again is for one with a good heart to awaken the Dark Dragon. I know this probably doesn't go very well with your own beliefs, little Clausy, but it's what us Magypsies are meant to convey in our long lives."

"Except for Locria." Claus pointed out and Ionia sighed at that. "I'm sorry… I guess I just don't have a lot of good impressions from those who wanted to release the Dark Dragon themselves. They tried to kidnap me or Lucas three years ago before they started copying the Pigmasks as the renegades. I don't know why they want the Dark Dragon to be released, however I can't help but get a bad feeling whenever they're around, especially their leader, the black Pigmask. It scares me so much that I grew desperate to try and stop Lucas from pulling anymore Needles…"

"Oh, is pulling the Needles that scary to you, you poor thing?" Ionia asked, babying the boy. "Well… I suppose that the possibility of the Dark Dragon doing that to our world is scary, isn't it? But Lucas is your twin brother, and a sweet one too~ Don't you trust your own brother that he'll try his best to help this world and save the people too?"

"I don't doubt Lucas… I just don't want everyone to have to die," Claus said quietly, "And besides, I already pulled more Needles than he did, wouldn't that mean right now the Dragon has more of my heart than Lucas's? I guess that doesn't matter since Lucas could easily just pull yours and we'd be even, then eventually Locria's. But those renegades… that black Pigmask… I have no doubt they're plotting something sinister for that Dragon."

Ionia seemed to be thinking to herself, "I haven't been in touch much with the outside world, but I've heard of the Pigmasks and this supposed group trying to defy them. Are these 'renegades' really such evil people?"

"I don't know if they're evil, but… they did a lot of bad things since I've seen them. They attacked Tazmily, burned down our forest, tried to kidnap me or Lucas and sent that Mecha Drago to terrorize everyone and killed our Mom." Claus explained. "Is it any wonder why I don't like them?"

"Oh dear, sounds like you've had quite the bad experience," Ionia said. "Well then, do you really believe that the Needles shouldn't be pulled?"

"I've always believed that since I learned about them," Claus answered. "But… lately all it's done is cause me to become stressed and hurt the people I care about."

Ionia seemed to really think about this before actually answering, taking another sip of her tea before looking at Claus. "Well… why don't you just try to travel with Lucas, dear? You seem very conflicted about what to believe in, so I think it's for the best if you just travel with him, see things from his perspective. I've heard the last Needle have a huge city built over it, where those Pigmasks are apparently staying. Maybe, once you arrive there, you can ask your superiors to fully explain their reasoning for their beliefs. Does that sound good for you, dear~?"

Claus thought about that. He remembered his mother used to tell him and Lucas that it's important to keep an open mind and always look at both sides of an argument before reaching a conclusion. "... That… that might be the best way to go about it… at least this way I can hear both sides of the argument." _I just hope Master Porky, Fassad and the Pigmasks will forgive me for joining with the… 'enemy'._

Ionia seemed very happy about this, "Oh very good! So will you be going out to join your little brother now then, Clausy-poo~?"

"... I suppose… if they'll still have me." Claus said with a sigh as he sat up from the bed.

"Then you better hurry, you know how impatient Kumatora gets~" Ionia chuckled.

"... But… if I let Lucas pull your Needle, wouldn't you disappear?" Claus asked. "Do you really want that?"

"Oh Claus, sometimes you and Lucas can be so cute," Ionia said, chuckling. "This was already explained to Lucas, but us Magypsies are prepared for this sort of thing, the reason why we even guard these Needles. But it's okay, some of us find it exciting to know that our Needle is pulled and we're disappearing for a good cause, myself included~"

 _That sounds more like you're hoping for death to me… still, I shouldn't knock them for dying for what they believe is right._ Claus thought to himself. _After all… I sort of did the same._

Ionia then smiled and said, "Well since you're willing to join up with your brother, you better go and join them~."

Claus sighed as he got off the bed and said, "... Ionia… Thanks."

* * *

Claus walked out of the door to see Lucas was already having a discussion with his friends.

"Are you sure Claus would just let you pull the Needle? I mean he sounds like he's still very much against it," Duster said.

"I-I think I can convince him, and if he really doesn't want to watch then he can… I don't know, walk away somewhere temporarily while I pull it?" Lucas said, suggesting the same idea that he told Claus while they were in Magicant.

"Yeah right, like someone could just walk away from something like that." Kumatora frowned.

"Maybe one of us should hypnotize him or something so he wouldn't suddenly try to stop you." Duster suggested. "At least then he could say he was knocked out."

Claus realized that none of them noticed that he was already standing there, not even Boney surprisingly. "Uh… ahem." he said awkwardly, trying to get their attention.

They still didn't notice and were still arguing.

"Come on Duster, we shouldn't do that to my brother." Lucas frowned.

"I could paralyze him then," Kumatora suggested.

"Guys, I don't want you to incapacitate him!" Lucas protested.

" _So what should we do then? Stuff him to the brim so he'd be so full he can't move?"_ Boney suggested and Lucas and Kumatora stared at him. _"What? I ate too much once and I couldn't chase the sheep!"_

"What did he say?" Duster asked awkwardly.

"You don't want to know," Kumatora groaned.

Claus shook his head before he walked over to them and said, "Excuse me! But I believe I have a right to choose here!"

That caught everyone's attention as they turned to the ginger haired boy.

"Oh, Claus! … How long were you standing there?" Lucas was the first to ask.

"Long enough. But don't _I_ have some kind of say for what I want to do when Lucas has to… you know." Claus asked, looking at each one of them.

"Well I suppose it's only fair, but…" Duster frowned. "ARE you going to let him?"

"You do realize if you try to stop him then we have the right to hold you down any way possible, right?" Kumatora said.

Claus sighed and said, "Okay look; I really need to get you guys to New Pork City. I think Ma- uh, I mean King P is over there and I want to ask him something and I want you guys to hear it."

"New Pork City? You mean that big place that everyone in Tazmily is moving to?" Lucas said. "Well... I guess we could, but we still have this Needle to pull. Can we go after I do that?"

Claus frowned and hesitated at that, he still _really_ didn't want Lucas to pull anymore Needles, but if he didn't let him pull it then they'll never go to New Pork City willingly with him, and he's not sure if he could knock them all out by himself, that and he's just tired of always having to fight them. Logically speaking, the only real way to get any answers to his conflicted beliefs is to let Lucas pull Ionia's Needle. "... I'll… I'll let you pull the Needle, but you _have_ to promise not to pull the last Needle until after we speak to King P, deal?"

Lucas's party each looked at each other. Kumatora looked skeptical, while Duster just shrugged, not seeming to mind. Boney didn't seem to care either way. Lucas looked over at Claus and nodded his head, "O-okay. After we pull this Needle… we can go meet this King P. But… he's not going to hurt us, is he?"

"He shouldn't, he's a really nice guy," Claus said. "I just want you guys to have a discussion with him about this world… whether it should be rebuilt or reborn."

"Fine, if it'll make you stop trying to fight us, then we'll go talk to this 'King P' guy." Kumatora said, "So does that mean you're on board with us for now, kid?"

Claus nodded, "Yeah, I'll join you guys. I didn't like being all alone anyways. Knowing my luck I'd probably mess you guys up without trying to anyways."

"Oh come on Claus, don't say that about yourself." Lucas frowned, "But I'm more than happy to say welcome to the team, Claus!" He smiled as he hugged his brother, glad to have him on their side again and the fact that he has PSI really made him happy.

Claus froze up from the sudden hug, he really wasn't expecting it, but he slowly wrapped his arms around Lucas, feeling his brother's warmth, Claus didn't realize how much he missed it since this whole Needle journey began.

"Aww, look at that, the twins are hugging each other." Kumatora chuckled.

" _I know, it's adorable right?"_ Boney laughed as he wagged his tail.


	38. Chapter 38: A Team of Five

**DarkFoxKit: *looks around before looking at the camera* Hi! … Heh… I'll bet some of you are wondering** **why there was no update last week. Well, last time I posted a chapter that was about 10,000 words, which is two weeks worth of a chapter, and we also needed a break from updating this since we also have to focus on our Undertale updates.**

 **Donfyre: *walks up beside Fox* Oh, starting already this time? Well, like the fox said, we had another two week break considering the length of last chapter.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Also, unlike me, Fyre has a very busy life, so we have to be very picky about the time we do our ANs. He's going to become a big success one of these days. *crawls over Fyre***

 **Donfyre: Wah! *falls to the floor with Fox on top of me* O-oh shush, don't say that. It's a nice thought but I dunno about it.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Well the future isn't set in stone, but I have a feeling you'll do great. *is nuzzling his face with her own furry face* Besides, who would've imagined an ordinary boy like Ness or Lucas would turn into the world's little savior, right?**

 **Donfyre: Heh, theirs' are just a story for people like us to write fanfics about. But it's still a nice thought. XP Anyways, you gonna give them the laydown on the next chapter?**

 **DarkFoxKit: Well, sometimes stories can come true. *jumps off Fyre with a devious smile on her face* Anyways, readers, this chapter is more about the characters here. It shows how Claus will talk and react with Lucas, Kumatora, Duster and Boney, though mostly Kumatora and Duster since he's not as close to them as he is with Lucas and Boney. *Is slowly stalking Fyre in a circle like a predator about to jump its prey***

 **Donfyre: Yeah, it'll be nice to give this insight that we'll let you readers see for yourself. *is watching Fox* … Uh… w-what are you doing? ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Just… biding my time… :3 So… you have anything else to add?**

 **Donfyre: Hmm? Oh, not really. Let's just have the readers move right along! I'm sure they're all probably impatient. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Alright~ Go on, readers. I'll answer your reviews at the bottom so the AN won't take up too much space up here. Also… *jumps at Fyre and pounced him into the wall* It's a good day to play~**

 **Donfyre: Ack! o-O' H-help m-! *static***

* * *

 **Chapter 38: A Team of Five**

"Sooo… back here again," Claus spoke up. The group of five were outside the entrance to the Chupichupyoi temple, still blocked and covered with vines. The memory of just the day before hit Claus when they were all standing here on opposing sides, and the day Lucas finally found out his identity.

 _Of all things to give me away… it had to be the badge Lucas gave to me on our birthday._ Claus bitterly thought to himself as he looked down at the Memory Badge in his gloved hand, Lucas had given it back to him before they came back out here. Despite the badge giving him away, however, Claus still handled it with care.

" _Well we're here, so I guess now we just sprinkle that Waters of Time thing to get these vines out of our way? Maybe I should put my waters on there too,"_ Boney said as he began sniffing the vines.

Claus wanted to say something to that, but stopped himself, before remembering he didn't have to hide the fact he could talk to Boney anymore. He shook his head, feeling all kinds of mixed messages going through his mind right now.

"No need to announce it," Kumatora said, rolling her eyes. "Alright Lucas, just sprinkle some of that time water stuff and you should be good."

Lucas nodded his head, pulling out the bottle and sprinkling the waters contained inside over the thick vines blocking the entrance now that he didn't have to worry about any interruptions from a certain masked man. He tried to ignore Boney doing his business off to the side.

When Lucas was finished, the vines started moving with life in them, as if the water really did bring time back into them. All at once, the vines began to age rapidly with the years that it had missed. Flowers quickly grew and withered on the vines, and within a few seconds, the vines shrunk and retracted, revealing the interior of the temple and the Needle that no doubt lay not too far inside. Claus could already see the dim glow of it on a high pedestal. The sight of the Needle brought a hollow feeling into his chest.

"Well that's that," Duster said. "We better go in and pull that Needle."

"Yeah," Lucas nodded as the group of four began walking in.

Boney stopped and turned when he realized Claus wasn't following them, _"Claus?"_

Lucas stopped when he heard Boney barked his brother's name, noticing Claus hadn't made a move to go inside.

"... Y-you go on ahead… I'll just wait out here, okay?" Claus said, trying not to look at the dim glow inside the temple. His heart was torn between stopping his brother from pulling it and just letting him pull it.

Boney whimpered, _"Claus, why not? You'll be lonely out here."_

Claus just nodded his head, not taking his eyes off the Needle not too far away. "I… y-yeah, I'll be fine." He turned his head away from the Needle now, looking at the now very interesting trees around him. Even if it was his own brother; he still couldn't bear knowing that he's forgoing his important duty and just letting a Needle be pulled. Claus couldn't bear it if he watched and let it happen.

"You sure you're not gonna run while we're in here?" Kumatora asked a little suspiciously.

"Kumatora! I know how he's feeling… We should just let him stay out here so he won't feel so bad," Lucas argued. He glanced back at his brother in concern, who just waved his hand towards the Needle.

"Just get it over with," Claus nearly begged. "The sooner you pull that Needle, the sooner we can go talk to King P."

"Okay. We'll be out as soon as we're done, Claus," Lucas said with a nod before he went into the temple.

Boney whined before walking over to Claus, _"Hey… I'll stay out here and keep you company while Lucas pulls the Needle."_

Claus looked at Boney, for three years he had to hide the fact he could talk to him, and now that he no longer had any reason to, it felt rather strange in a liberating sort of way. "... Are you sure you should stay with me, Boney?"

" _Lucas has Kumatora and Duster keeping him company, and I feel like I owe you after biting you so much,"_ Boney said, _"Why do you have to cover yourself in chemicals anyway? It was so hard distinguishing your smell."_

"That was the idea, Boney," Claus said. "I didn't want you or Lucas finding out that I was the Commander."

" _You could have just told us… We wouldn't think of you as a monster. And now I have to make it up to you for everything I've done!"_ Boney complained. He looked like he was gonna jump up and lick Claus's face again, but the boy took a step back from the eager dog.

"Think about it, Boney… I'm working for the very side that you're fighting against, as its _commander_. I was too scared to tell you, Lucas, or anybody about what I was doing," Claus explained. It felt weird to him that he had to tell his dog to _think_ about something. "I mean Lucas and Dad freaked out when I just told them I was the _waterboy_ for them of all things."

" _Okay, admittedly they probably wouldn't have taken it too well… they are pretty hard headed sometimes, but I'm sure they would've understood your reasoning if you had just told them. After all I myself am still unsure whether releasing that big Dragon is a good idea or not, it seems scary actually… but I trust Lucas's judgement. The boy can be naive and a stubborn hard head sometimes, mostly thanks to Kumatora's influence, but he knows what he's doing and he truly believes the Dragon will help everyone."_ Boney explained, sounding wise for a dog.

"I suppose trusting Lucas is easy… but this whole Dragon thing… I just don't like it," Claus sighed. "We still have no guarantees it can actually save people while it destroys the world, and I rather not have to kill everyone off just to rebuild a dying world. And I still hold on to those beliefs even if it's… shaky right now. I just hate fighting my own brother like this."

At this mention, the two of them glanced up at the high pedestal where the Needle was. Lucas, Kumatora, and Duster were now up there too, talking among each other. Lucas made one last worried glance at his brother before stepping up to the Needle. Claus turned his head away.

"I… don't want to watch this," Claus said, covering his eyes with his organic hand.

Boney gave a whine as they heard the familiar sound of a Needle being pulled. Pretty soon the area light up and the earth began shaking as the heartbeats thumped. Claus had gotten used to the shaking and light shows by now, but it was no less cringe worthy.

Pretty soon, the shaking and lights stopped, and when Claus dared to look back at the temple, the glow was gone. He gave a sigh, knowing there was only one Needle left between the world's rebirth and possibly the extinction of every living thing on this planet.

"And then there was one…" Claus said softly. "Fassad…" _I wonder how Fassad is doing now? I hope he's okay… maybe he went to New Pork City after Dr. Andonuts fixed him up._

* * *

Lucas, Duster and Kumatora all came out of the temple, but before they could say anything, Ionia was walking up to them. Already her body was flickering in and out of existence.

"My oh my, you finally pulled my Needle, Lucas~" Ionia said with a smile.

"Y-yeah…" Lucas frowned as he saw Ionia's body flickering, sad that he will never see his PSI mentor again.

"Oh don't look so sad, Lucas." Ionia smiled before looking to Kumatora. "Now before I go, there is one PSI technique I feel should be passed down to you. It's a very dangerous PSI and I didn't intend on teaching you at all, but it might be better if you did learn it, dearie."

"One more PSI I haven't heard of?" Kumatora asked.

"Yes dearie~ Now hurry, before I disappear!"

Kumatora quickly nodded her head, turning around so her back was to the Magypsy. Ionia stepped back a bit, concentrating hard and staring at Kumatora before suddenly, a bright, powerful flash of lightning struck down on Kumatora. The young woman fell flat on her face from the impact, and Lucas and Duster quickly rushed to her aid. When they lifted her up, she was whispering one word out loud.

"Starstorm."

Claus's eyes widen when he heard those words. The only other person he knew that had such a devastating PSI, aside from those robots he saw in on Tanetane Island, was Fassad. He remembered Fassad telling him the PSI is very powerful and very dangerous, and the only thing rivaling it would probably be PK Love in its omega level- which crossed another thought in Claus's mind. PK Love seem to have gotten stronger with every Needle he and Lucas pulled… with three… would that mean that they both can use PK Love in its strongest level now? That thought terrified him even more than the thought of pulling another Needle.

"Now you can use Starstorm," Ionia said. "Lucas and his cute twin brother Claus can use PK Love Omega. I wish I could say I look forward to seeing what you would do from now own, but alas, I can't. Still, now nobody should stand in your way~ I wish you all the best of luck. And if I'm right, Locria's Needle should be located somewhere in a big, busy place, full of people and noisy buildings."

 _Fassad… his Needle must be in that city, New Pork City._ Claus thought to himself when Ionia explained this. _And I'm leading them right to it! Master Porky just better come up with a good argument about this…_ He bit his thumb glove nervously.

Lucas looked really sad at Ionia's earlier statement, not really paying attention to her later bit about the whereabouts of the last Needle, "You're almost gone, Ionia… T-thanks for being such a great teacher to me when I was learning PSI."

Ionia nodded and said, "It was great getting to teach you, cute little Lucas~"

Claus walked up to her and said, "Ionia… thanks… for what you said before."

Ionia smiled and said, "I always enjoy making you cute boys happy. It's only too bad you hadn't revealed you could PSI sooner, I would've been more than happy to teach both of you boys on how to use PSI and how to fully utilize PK Love. Well I guess I'll leave that up to Lucas now."

She then gave Kumatora some lipstick and said, "Take good care of my memento, you've all come a long way. I leave the rest to you now~!" She said before her body disappeared into sparkles.

* * *

After a moment of silence, Claus looked up to his brother and said, "... What did she mean by 'fully utilizing PK Love'?"

"Oh, that. It's just using PK Love to the fullest, like for attacking and such," Lucas explained. "Do you not know how to do that?"

"... I'm still not sure what you even meant," Claus chuckled sheepishly.

"Well…" Lucas turned to Kumatora and Duster. "Do you guys think it's okay if we stay here for a while so I can teach my brother?"

Duster shrugged, not really seeming to care much. He looked over at Kumatora, who seemed a little wary at the suggestion, "What are you going to teach him? Something that could be potentially dangerous?"

Claus frowned at that, _What, she thinks I'll turn against in the middle of him teaching me? Then again… I have been doing it secretly for a while, and I haven't exactly promised I'll be on their side once we get to New Pork City…_

"I'm just going to teach him the basics of PSI. Claus, I've noticed that your fighting technique mostly rely on power, but have you ever used PSI for something other than fighting all the time?" Lucas asked his brother.

"Other than fighting? Well… I mostly use offensive type PSI. There's not really much I can use it for _besides_ fighting," Claus answered, not really seeing where his brother was going with this.

"Not really, there can be practical uses for offensive type PSI too," Lucas smiled at him. "Like you can use PK Fire to make a camp fire on cold days or to cook something. You can use PK Thunder to send a good jolt to a dying person's heart. PK Freeze can keep things preserved for a long time and cool you off when you get too hot. You see what I mean? Have you ever tried doing that, Claus?"

"Um… I think? I never really had to worry too much about that. The Pigmasks' technology usually took care of everything," Claus replied.

"You and those stupid…" Kumatora grumbled under her breath. Claus could only faintly hear her say it, but he ignored it right now.

"Well now you can learn how to use it for other than fighting. You didn't know anything about Magicant either. Who was teaching you how to use PSI?" Lucas asked.

"Fassad, or Locria, as the other Magypsies called him… her, whatever he is. He was the Magypsy that they kept saying didn't agree with the others," Claus answered. He remembered Lucas saying something about this before too… before he knew that Claus was the commander, like how Lucas really wanted to teach the commander the more practical side of PSI. "But why does it matter?"

"Because you can't always rely on technology for everything." Lucas pointed out. "And I've always wanted to be able to teach you something about PSI since we talked about it long ago." He gave a small smile.

Claus could tell Lucas was really excited and happy to know that his brother really could use PSI.

"And I was right… you really did inherit all the offensive PSI," Lucas said with a cheerful smile.

"Heh… I did, didn't I? It goes well with your supportive PSI, no wonder you and Kumatora were always so hard to take down," Claus said, trying to make a dark joke. The pink-haired woman in question didn't look like she appreciated it much though.

" _H-hey! I knocked you over a few times too you know! What, just because I'm a dog and can't use PSI you consider me to not to be a threat?"_ Boney barked.

Claus looked at Boney, it seemed as if there was a silent rivalry between him and Kumatora.

"I didn't say you were easy to take down either Boney," Claus chuckled.

Lucas chuckled at that too, "Heh… it's kinda different to see you actually talking back to Boney for a change, but in a good way."

"Well practical uses for PSI is all fine and dandy Lucas, but we really should talk to King P soon. I want to know if it's really right to pull the last Needle and rebirth the world," Claus said seriously.

"Of course, but I at least want to teach you the basics for PK Love before we go. I remember hearing how the commander- or rather you- had your PK Love go wild when you thought I was dead. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why the commander's PK Love went wild like that, but now that I know it's you, it makes perfect sense." Lucas smiled.

Claus remembered that day too. When the renegades attacked Tazmily Village, and Lucas suffered a lot of damage… That was one of the most obvious signs that he was Claus in actuality. "Yeah… I was just really worried about you that day… Anyways, I guess it wouldn't hurt for you to teach me a few things before heading to New Pork City. I don't really know where the city is anyways…"

" _You don't know where it is? Then how are we going to get there, smarty pants?"_ Boney grumbled.

"Okay, you need to shut your mouth while the humans are talking," Claus grumbled back.

"Really starting to wish I had a dog translator or something now," Duster chuckled.

"Well anyways, PK Love gets its energy from our love," Lucas explained. "It's no surprise it would go wild when someone you loved was taken away from you, it reacted to how you felt and exploded. It never harms the people you considered friends, that's why I can always use it without fear I'll hurt the people close to me."

"Tanetane Island *cough cough!*" Kumatora reminded.

"In my defense, I didn't know it was you guys, okay?" Lucas grumbled, feeling his face flush.

"Wait what?" Claus blinked at that. "You attacked Kumatora with PK Love on Tanetane Island? … Let me guess; it was the mushrooms, right?"

"N-no! … Yes… and I hit Duster too..." Lucas eventually admitted when he saw Claus seeing right past his weak lie.

"Understandable. You can't tell what's what when you eat those things," Claus said as he cringed at the memory of what he saw after eating those accursed mushrooms.

"Y-yeah… but anyways, moving on! Since I don't use a lot of offensive PSI, most of the time I have to rely on enhancing PK Love to help me in battle. I can send portions of it through my body to help enhance my strength, similar to Offense Up but only in short bursts that don't use a lot of PSI," Lucas said as he showed a glowing hexagonal energy flashing in the palm of his hand. "You did it before when we were in Magicant, but I guess you have trouble doing that in the real world?"

"Uh… well I never knew PK Love could be used in such a way," Claus admitted. "I don't even know why or how I did it in Magicant."

"Well PSI can work differently depending on how you use it," Lucas said. "There are many different ways to use it. Come on Claus, I want to see if you can create a small portion of PK Love onto the palm of your hand."

"Just… a _small_ portion?" Lucas nodded his head. "Er, alright then." Claus held out his left hand and he tried to summon just a little bit of PK Love onto his palm. With some concentration, he managed to summon a few small, flickering hexagonal sparks, but it wasn't as impressive as Lucas's though.

"Oh, that's already a good start! Now just use a _tiny_ bit more and- WAH!"

Claus had tried to put in more, but it was too much. A large burst of PK Love exploded from his hand, its power was comparable to that of a PK Love alpha. It spread around him and Lucas's party all fell back defensively, however they weren't hurt.

"... Whoops," Claus said, sheepishly, wiping his left hand on his shirt as if he touched something poisonous with it.

Kumatora was the first one back up, seeing that they weren't hurt, "Hey, watch what you're doing with that! Unless you _wanted_ to do that?"

"H-hey, that was by accident, I swear! I didn't know!" Claus protested, a little annoyed that she was already questioning his intentions.

"Claus is right, if he wanted to hurt us we would be a little singed from that right now," Lucas said. "But we don't have a scratch, see?"

" _I'm glad I can't use PK Love, it's all so complicated,"_ Boney groaned.

"This is all very interesting, but I'm going to go sit way over here," Duster said as he went to the edge of the area.

"Not a bad idea, but I have my eyes on you," Kumatora said to Claus before going to where Duster went.

"... You two lovebirds have fun now." Claus smirked.

Kumatora stiffened up at that, not even looking back. " _What_ did you say? You know what… I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that. For both your sake and the fact that you're Lucas's brother."

" _Oooh, I should've thought of that one! You DO spend a lot of alone time with Duster after all."_ Boney smirked.

"Careful mutt, I might not be so lenient with you," Kumatora growled at Boney.

Lucas chuckled, "Wow, you two really do like messing with Kumatora."

"Well considering all the insults she kept throwing at me when I was the Commander, she deserves it." Claus grinned.

Lucas couldn't help but smile at that, he had missed _this_ Claus's attitude. "Well Claus, I think we should keep going with the lesson. PK Love is a bit tough to control at first, but once you're able to you may be able to do things you couldn't before."

"Yeah, I think I can get it…" Claus said as he tried to create the spark again. "But I seem to go too big or too small…"

"It's because you were using another persona for a long time and crushing your own heart when you were fighting us. It might be a while before you can have better control with your PK Love," Lucas explained.

"You think? Well… if you say so. Guess I'll just be more careful when practicing then," Claus said, looking down at the palm of his only organic hand. He felt a tinge of guilt again when Lucas said that about using another identity.

* * *

Suddenly, Boney began barking from nearby, _"Hey! I hear something coming!"_

Claus perked up when he heard a familiar tune playing, a tune that usually meant the Pigmasks were coming. "Could it be…? I thought they were all wiped out. Did they send someone from the city…?"

Kumatora and Duster hurried over to them when they heard the tune playing too.

"What's going on?" Duster asked.

Then a long, stretched vehicle showed up in front of them. They all stared at it and looked at Claus as he was the Pigmask expert here.

"Hey, don't look at me, I've never seen this kind of vehicle before," Claus quickly said.

One of the doors opened and an average looking man wearing a suit came out, smiling at them. "Are you Lucas?"

Lucas looked a little apprehensive, not stepping forward as he spoke, "Um, y-yeah. Why?"

"Well then, Master Porky cordially invites you and your friends to New Pork City! You must be someone really special if Master Porky's sending a personal invitation to you," The man said.

"Wait, Master Porky is _inviting_ Lucas to go to New Pork City?" Claus found that rather shocking, surely he knew that six of the seven Needles has been pulled already, why risk it by inviting the very person they're trying to stop to where the last Needle was?

"Yes, it is on his orders," The man, the chauffeur, said with a nod.

"So we're going to New Pork City in this… thing?" Duster asked, looking at the stretched vehicle.

"It's a lot safer than it looks," The chauffeur reassured. "So will you accept, Master Lucas?"

"Wait, are you sure Master Porky wanted this? That seems a bit odd," Claus said, concerned that this was a bad idea.

"Hey, why are you arguing with the man? _You_ wanted us to go there too, didn't you?" Kumatora frowned.

"Well it's just… the last Needle. If it is in New Pork City, why would Master Porky risk inviting the very person pulling the Needles there in the first place?" Claus asked.

"Master Porky has his own reasons, and he will not take no for an answer," The chauffeur sighed.

"Giving us no choice in this?" Kumatora frowned.

"I'm afraid not, ma'am," the chauffeur responded, shaking his head. "Now please, if you would step inside. It's very cozy in there, I assure you. And we mustn't spend more time lingering here than we need to."

Lucas was the first one to step forward, before anyone even said any sort of agreement. He nervously stepped inside the limousine as the chauffeur stood to one side. Once he was inside, Claus just shrugged his shoulders and followed him inside, seeing nothing else that they could do.

 _At least it's a free trip to the city._ The young commander thought.

The last three followed the twins inside the limousine, with the chauffeur coming inside last onto the diver's seat and closing the door behind them. "Please, make yourselves comfortable until we arrive."

* * *

" _What the kibble is this? This place is as big as a house!"_ Boney barked.

"This place is… really fancy. I can hardly believe it's even a vehicle," Duster said in awe.

Claus tapped at some of the drinks and pool table laying around, there was even a hot tub filled with hot water in the middle of it all.

"... Yeah, it's Master Porky alright, he likes being fancy." Claus couldn't help but chuckle as he remembered when he first moved into his commander room, it was so big and fancy that it took him weeks to get used to it.

"Huh? They have juice here too?" Lucas said, walking over to the table with drinks. He took one of the large, slender bottles but both Claus and the chauffeur ran over to him and pulled him away.

"Whoooa whoa whoa, Lucas. You shouldn't have that stuff; I saw it do some weird things to some of the higher-ranking Pigmasks," Claus said as he pulled him away.

"The spirits aren't allowed for children. But please feel free to do anything else you'd like," the chauffeur agreed.

Lucas blushed at the small commotion he made, saying a small "Oops." quietly.

"I don't think adults should have this stuff either," Claus grumbled.

Kumatora was looking at the hot tub and said, "I could use a dip after all that running around. Finally some down time!"

" _Yeah, take a nice long bath, that'll be nice for your skin,"_ Boney huffed.

Duster was looking at what appeared to be a Happy Box, looking at it curiously.

Lucas watched as the chauffeur went to the front seat with the wheel and the limousine began moving. "So… now what?"

"Now… we wait," Claus answered. "We could sit down while we wait and chat for a bit if you want."

"Oh, sure! It'll be nice to just relax for a little while at least." Lucas said, nodding his head and sounding enthusiastic about the idea.

Claus and Lucas sat together on the nice, soft chairs while Kumatora was taking a dip in the hot tub, Duster was watching the Happy Box and Boney was just sniffing around.

* * *

"So now that we're just talking… why don't you tell me what it's like traveling with a short tempered lady, a quiet but effective thief and a smart mouthing dog?" Claus asked his brother.

Lucas looked over at Claus curiously. Claus himself didn't know what it was, but it was… an inquisitive look. "Well… um, fun I guess? Why do you ask?"

"I just wanted to know what it was like," Claus said. "I was mostly traveling alone or with other soldiers. Mostly alone since I could fly solo, and not to mention after the base was bombed I was the only one left able to travel around anyways."

"It was rough and difficult, but they supported me the best they can. We worked together in tough times and always tried to look out for each other," Lucas answered.

"Must've been nice," Claus sighed.

Lucas hesitated before he said, "Why don't you get to know them, Claus?"

"Hmm?" Claus looked at Lucas. "Why?"

"I want you to get to know Kumatora and Duster a little better, they're really great friends you know." Lucas smiled.

"I-I don't know… after everything that happened, I wouldn't be surprised if they both hate me and are just being nice about it because of you," Claus said quietly.

"Give them a chance, Claus, I'm sure Duster and Kumatora don't hate you," Lucas said gently. "Go on, talk to them."

Claus sighed, he really wished his brother wouldn't try so hard for him sometimes. "Alright, alright, I'll go talk to them."

* * *

The ginger haired boy walked around the limo, looking at Duster or Kumatora, he should probably try talking to the easier one; the quiet thief Duster. Kumatora still scares the young commander.

"Hey uh… Duster…" Claus started, not sure how to start a conversation with him, "I'm glad you've been helping and taking care of my brother…"

"... It's no problem, kid," Duster said with some hesitance.

Claus looked at Duster's limp leg, wondering what could've happened to it, and yet he's a really fast runner, "You must've had some harsh training before."

Duster gave a small sigh as he gave a far away look, probably remembering how he got that limp leg, making Claus wish he didn't say anything.

"There was an accident on my first field test," Duster said. "My father didn't prepare me too well and it cost me my leg."

"Oh… I'm sorry about that," Claus said, feeling sympathetic as he had lost his arm in his early days with the army.

"It's okay. I didn't let that bother me and worked harder than ever to prove I can still be a great thief, someone my father could be proud of. Of course… my father is hardly ever happy with what I do," Duster sighed.

Claus couldn't help but cringed at that, being reminded of his own father. The boy wondered how Flint was doing, and how angry he would be at Claus for using Brainshock on him and for being the commander of the Pigmasks.

"But don't let it get you down, Claus. I'm proud I was able to help the young Princess and Lucas in their endeavours for the Needles, it makes me feel like I could be someone I'm proud of," Duster said with a small smile. "And I know you try hard to do what you believe is right too, despite the loss of your own arm and eye, that takes some serious dedication and bravery."

Claus couldn't help but give a small smile at that too. "You sure are a fast and tough fighter despite the limp, Duster. You gave me a run for my money."

"Heh, coming from you that means a lot. You're not pushover yourself, Claus, they must've trained you hard since you could take on all four of us at once like that," Duster said with some respect in his voice.

Claus gave a small blush at that, "W-well you guys still overwhelmed me."

"There are four of us. For a four vs. one fight, you held up yourself pretty well," Duster said, giving a warm smile. "I know it took me a while for my own father to get me to a decent fighting strength. You must have worked really hard."

"Yeah... I worked pretty hard to get where I am now," Claus said as he sighed. "It was because I wanted to do something great for once in my life... I mean Lucas was already well liked in the village and he gained PSI before I did."

"Hey, even if you there are people who don't really agree with what you're doing..." At this, Duster shifted a little uncomfortably. "You still tried really hard in what you believed in. Just look at me, I was raised to be the town thief of all things. It's not really something you would want to be known as. ... Even if there wasn't anything worth stealing."

"Oh yeah, why were you and Wess thieves anyway?" Claus asked. "I mean, nobody in the village cared that you were, but there had to have been a reason for it, right?"

Duster scratched the back of his head, a slight sheepish look on his face. "Yeah... about that. My father, Wess... he explained to me that our sole purpose as thieves was to steal a certain item from that old Osohe Castle. It's actually where I met Kumatora first. But... I guess I wasn't raised as much of a great thief as I was hoped to be. I ended up stealing the wrong item, and my father was angry of course. But I know he only does that because he loves me. Maybe now he at least sees me as something a little more than an idiot now that I'm helping Lucas and Princess Kumatora." He chuckled at that last part.

"Your father seems like a very... strict man," Claus said with a frown. "I'd probably break if my dad was like that... But how does it feel to travel around the island with people with psychic powers and a dog you couldn't understand? Don't you feel envious or left out at all?" _I know I would…_

The young man shrugged. "Not really. I'm just glad I'm doing my part in helping, at least in some way." He noticed Claus looking down dejectedly. "And hey, you still have your part. Maybe you're not helping Lucas, but you're still doing what you believe in. Even if that makes us enemies."

"It's funny... I almost wished that Fassad never found me with PSI fever... maybe then I could've been on Lucas's side instead. Funny how I wished to go against my own beliefs, how okay I would've been to destroy the world and let the Dragon rebirth it, but I can't standby and just let it happen if it could kill everyone... but... I hated being your enemy," Claus said, his voice low. "I just hope... Master Porky will help clear things up."

Duster patted Claus's shoulder. "Maybe everything is still confusing, but I'm sure you'll find a way to settle things. Lucas might be your enemy, but he's still family first."

Claus cringed at the confirmation of calling Lucas his enemy, he hated seeing his brother, someone closest to him, to be called an enemy like that, "Yeah... but... what will I do... if I have to fight you guys again? I don't know if my heart can take it... it was hard enough when you didn't know who I was... but now that you do..." he paused, feeling sick just thinking about the possible inevitable battle.

"... I don't really know what to say about that. But I'm sure you and Lucas... you two will work something out."

* * *

It looked like Duster was about to say something else, but Kumatora's voice rang out.

"Yo Claus! Get over here, I want to talk to you about something!" Claus cringed at hearing Kumatora's loud voice calling for him.

 _Oh great, what does she want with me? ... She's even BATHING IN THE HOT SPRING!_ Claus groaned to himself.

Duster gave a knowing smile at the boy's misfortune, "Looks like the hot-headed Princess needs you. Be careful she doesn't burn you or something."

Claus gave a small gulp as an uneasy knot tighten in his stomach, wondering what could Kumatora want with him.

The young boy hesitantly walked over to her, "Uh... yes... Miss Kumatora?" he hoped if he's as polite as possible, she won't hurt him too much.

The pink-haired Princess was frowning to herself and looked deep in thought. She looked the opposite of relaxed, even though she was in the hot spring.

"Okay, first off, quit with all the politeness crap. I know it's you now Claus."

The boy was a little taken aback by this, and Kumatora immediately noticed this.

"Oh come on, I'm not angry at you Claus, I'm just curious about some things."

Claus gave a small sigh and tried to relax a bit, "What do you want to know then? I'll answer the best I can."

Despite what Kumatora said, Claus was still trying to act polite. It could be his fear of her, or it could be three years of discipline of being in an army, or maybe he's more like Lucas than he had thought.

She just nodded her head in acknowledgement. "Alright, first off... Your PSI. When did you even get it? And why couldn't I sense it? I thought you were acting strange back then now that I think about it, but how come I couldn't feel your PSI aura?"

It was then Claus remembered he never did get that new bracelet from Dr. Andonuts, not that he needed it anymore.

"I got it three years ago, not too longer after Lucas awakened his. You couldn't sense it because I was given a special bracelet that suppresses my PSI aura from anyone who can sense it," Claus answered as clearly as he could for her.

She frowned at that. "That soon? I didn't expect that... Is that when you joined the Pig..." she took a deep breath and continued, "The _Pigmasks_. They were the ones who did that, weren't they? Suppressed your PSI?"

"Yes," Claus confirmed. "You and Lucas were out training that day. I was out in the forest to collect some mushrooms when I had the PSI fever. I guess Fassad must've sensed it since he was the closest Magypsy at the time when I had the PSI fever, and he took me in. That was when he and Master Porky told me about the Needles and the legend behind the Dark Dragon."

"... And you joined them after that?" Kumatora asked. Claus couldn't tell if she was accusing him or just genuinely curious.

Claus gave a small sigh before he answered, "Yes. I felt like I owed it to them for saving me from the Mecha Drago that attacked me in the forest... and I guess I just wanted to break out of my brother's shadow for once, and be able to do something separately from him. I didn't realize that it would boil down to us being enemies... but I guess it should've been obvious the minute I heard the legend."

She sighed at his response. "You know... As much as I really want to, I can't stay angry at you, Claus. You're still Lucas's caring older brother, even if he says sometimes how much you tease him. You sound like you had your reasons, but..." The hot spring looked like it shot up to a much higher temperature as a bright red light shined in the water near Kumatora. "Dang it, Claus. You could have just _told_ us too. I really hate seeing how much your timid brother has been ever since he found out you were the Commander, and it's only been a few days."

"I _wanted_ to tell you! I did... and to Lucas most of all, but I couldn't," Claus answered quickly. "I was ordered not to show my identity to _anyone_ , not even Lucas. They told me that it would only make the villagers go against me if they ever find out... and as the years went by, so did my own fear of how Lucas and Dad would react."

"They told you THAT? Stupid pig-headed..." Kumatora grumbled before sighing to herself. "I... guess it can't really be helped anymore. Just take care of your brother, alright? He really doesn't want to hurt anyone, least of all you. I tell him to toughen up a little bit, but I guess that's why he was chosen to pull the Needles."

Claus hesitated, but there was something he wanted to talk to her about that involved the Needles and himself.

"Hey, Kumatora... do you really believe that the world and all the people living in it can be saved by awakening the Dragon? Fassad told me that in order to rebirth the world, the Dragon has to destroy it first, and that would mean we would die along with this world. Would you and the Magypsies have told me to pull the Needles along with Lucas had I not been found by Fassad first?"

She didn't even think before answering. "Of course the Dark Dragon will save everyone." Then she realized what she just said, "... Oh. Fassad said that, huh? I don't really trust that guy, and I wouldn't be surprised if he just said that to lure you in. But if we found you with PSI along with Lucas? Yeah, I'd say we'd have you pulling Needles alongside your brother too. If that heart of yours is as good as Lucas makes it sound." she responded, smirking.

Claus couldn't help but give a small chuckle, "You really believe the Dragon won't kill us all, huh? I wish I could be that confident. I don't believe Fassad is a bad guy, he's always been helping me. And the ironic thing is... I have been pulling the Needles too, granted they were by mistake, but... It makes me wonder who's side I'm really on."

 _"You two are a lot alike, you know. You're both stubborn, overprotective with Lucas, like to argue with me and you both use offensive PSI,"_ They heard Boney said.

Kumatora didn't even bother responding to Claus - all her attention was focused right on Boney, and it wasn't very happy.

"HEY! Quiet, you! I was actually speaking with our Commander Claus here on friendly terms!" She splashed some water at Boney in annoyance.

Boney yipped at the sudden splash of hot water on his fur.

 _"What was THAT for!? I was just saying you two are a lot alike!"_ Boney snapped. _"Don't you agree with me, Claus?"_

"Oh please leave me out of it, Boney," Claus grumbled.

 _"What's wrong? Too afraid to take a dip?"_ Boney gave an evil smirk, which is impressive for a dog, making Claus uneasy.

"No! I just don't want to get into the same tub as a lady!" Claus shouted, his face turning red.

Kumatora was gnashing her teeth too, her face flushed and staring daggers at the dog. "Oh, how about you, huh? You must be FILTHY after going so long without a bath." She splashed even more water at the dog, each splash spiked with a super high temperature of PK Fire.

Boney began to whimper as he ran across the limo and tackled Duster by accident. Duster gave a small scream when he was scorched by the hot water Kumatora splashed on him while she was aiming for Boney.

Claus sweatdropped at this before Boney and Duster gave a deadpanned look, then they suddenly gave an evil grin as they looked at the boy.

"... Uh-oh..." Claus quickly ran the opposite direction.

Duster and Boney ran after Claus, but as they were passing the hot spring, Kumatora grabbed Boney's tail, which made him whine in shock as he grabbed one of Duster's leg, who wobbled and fell but grabbed Claus's foot.

Claus yelped as he fell on his face just in front of Lucas, who was watching them on the seat and was blinking.

"Lucas! Help!" Claus yelled as Kumatora started dragging the chain towards her.

Lucas just watched in great confusion at the spectacle in front of him. "U-um... What are you doi- WAH!"

He yelped when Claus grabbed onto his leg.

Before Lucas or Claus could do anything, they were suddenly dragged into the hot spring with a big SPLASH! All four people and a dog were now in the tub together.

Claus found himself blinking along with the others around him, as if shocked what just happened, before Duster began chuckling, which lead to Kumatora chuckling, then Lucas and himself. Soon all four of them were full out laughing together, soaked in the hot spring. Boney just gave a small pouty whine, but he didn't seem angry or upset.

Claus laughed as he felt better than he had felt in three years before he pointed at his brother, and said while laughing, "Lucas, your hair is dripping!"

Lucas just shook his head and smiled at Claus. "What about you, Claus? You're all soaked too!"

 _"I'M all soaked! You're all lucky you don't have fur that soaks up this water!"_ Boney whined.

"Aw man, this jacket does not go with water!" Claus groaned as Lucas just laughed.

"What a nice way to break the ice with the Commander, eh Princess?" Duster chuckled as he gave a light elbow to Kumatora's shoulder.

She just rolled her eyes. "Oh please, blame the dog! I was having a very nice conversation with him until he ruined it!"

Even though Boney was dismayed at being completely soaked, he still sounded proud- or at least as proud as a dog can sound- when he responded, _"Hey, it was better than that dramatic and serious conversation you were having, you looked like you were giving him a hard time!"_

Claus couldn't help but kind of agree with that. But he didn't say it out loud.

But Claus did feel a lot better around Duster and Kumatora now, they were tough people when they want to be, but they're also very nice people, even if one of them is a thief and the other has a wrath of a volcano.

* * *

"Hey! We're almost at New Pork City! You can see the horizon from here!" Claus heard the chauffeur's voice, using a speaker to talk to them clearly.

"Looks like we're almost there," Claus said, though he wished the happy moment would've lasted longer.

Lucas looked slightly disappointed also, having to leave this comfortable limo where each of their alliances didn't matter. He was the first to look out the windows of the limousine, a shocked expression clear on his face.

"W-whoa... this is New Pork City? It's..." Words couldn't express his awe and slight nervousness.

Claus and the others got out of the hot springs to look out the window as well, seeing a huge neon place with many tall buildings, it almost looked unreal.

"Wow... so this is New Pork City..." Claus said in awe, seeing it for the first time what Porky had been working on for all these years.

 _I guess this is it... first we explore the city and find Master Porky... Good or bad, it looks like things will be settled once and for all._

* * *

 **FanofFiction123: I know, seeing it end is probably one of the hardest things to do with a fun story, but it's also the most satisfying. There are other stories you can check out if you want. ^^' As for that line and scene, it was because of that deleted scene I thought about it. Fyre here makes a good Lucas it seems. :3 He'll always be squished by meeeeee.**

 **Donfyre: *his voice is heard from below* Y-you didn't have to remind everyone, Fox. *sweatdrops***

 **DarkFoxKit: You have to stay quiet, my little chair. c:**

 **Shimo no ko: Yay, fluffy fluff! And yup, Claus was pretty certain Lucas hated him now that he knew his secret. I'm also a big fan of when characters go through their minds and dreams, and I didn't like how there was no Magicant in Mother 3, so this was a good chance to use it in the story. As for Dreams and Reality… I feel like I've seen that before, but I'm not sure. And Boney is a loyal dog despite his sassy attitude, so to him hurting Claus is like hurting his own puppy. And that's the beauty of having two different people working on two different characters on opposing arguments; there's usually no bias, plus both of them are right in a way. And thank you for being patient with us. ^^'**

 **sunflowermaiden210: Good, that means we did a good job at making you love the characters. :3 I'm glad you loved how Boney reacted in this chapter. Let's hope the brothers can keep getting along.**

 **Bloxxerstudios1 : Porky didn't get involved too much because I didn't want to accidentally reveal his… erm… backstory too early. But he's much more prominent in the final chapters.**

 **Joltik12 : You've been crying? Heh, I like seeing how so many people felt bad for Claus, I'm glad we got people attached to him and understand his struggles. And Fyre inspired this story when he gave me an English ROM of Mother 3, and he's fun to write with. Uh… marry? Well then… Fyre, would you like to be my husband? :3 And I always want to make my books good. XP**

 **Donfyre: W-wha!? … *his face was suddenly all red* … I-I don't have to answer that.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Who needs an electric heating blanket when you've got a chair that heats up all by itself? :3 I am DarkFoxKit, my blushy little fire red Wooper is Donfyre, and we look forward to hearing from you!**


	39. Chapter 39: New Pork City

**DarkFoxKit: *is staring at Fyre's pizza* … You gonna eat that?**

 **Donfyre: *is halfway done with his slice* I'll answer for the third time: yuuuuus! Someone is REALLY hungry. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: But I love pizza! And all I had was skinny chicken tenders several hours ago!**

 **Donfyre: W-well this is my dinner here! I haven't eaten since this afternoon which was a lot longer ago! Can't you have a, I dunno… a snack or something? *is keeping his pizza away from Fox's drooling stare***

 **DarkFoxKit: No. Hmm… well maybe. *Smiles at Fyre* Oh, the camera's rolling, perhaps we should say something to the readers? This is where the gang finally makes it to New Pork City, and the final destination of the story.**

 **Donfyre: *gulps at Fox's knowing stare* … O-oh, we're at these final moments already? Huh… It feels like a long while ago when we first started working on this. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: I know, right? What are the final stretches for the story going to be? I'll let you readers find out. :3 *turns to Fyre* Hey Fyre… can you come closer to me for a sec?**

 **Donfyre: Uh… o-okaaaay…? *inches slowly over to Fox***

 **DarkFoxKit: *snatches Fyre's half eaten pizza away and started running off camera* I got your pizza, sucka! :D**

 **Donfyre: H-HEY! That's not faaaair, I trusted you for a moment! DX *scurries off after Fox***

* * *

 **Chapter 39: New Pork City**

The limo closed in on the city as the group kept watching in awe as they soon entered into it. The place was so bright that it almost felt like it was early afternoon rather than late evening, in fact the sun was almost down and the night was soon upon them.

The chauffeur opened the door to let the invited out. Claus was the first one out, followed by Lucas, Kumatora, Duster and Boney.

"Welcome to New Pork City! The biggest and only city in all of the world!" The chauffeur announced to the group.

Everyone were staring in awe of the large place, none of them had ever seen a city before. Claus had seen towns, villages and colonies in his time with the Pigmasks, but this was his first time being in a real city.

"This is all probably new to you. You better stay together as you explore what this city has to offer. In the meantime I'm going to pick up anymore people who wish to come, and maybe get a new job, driving that limo is a lot harder than it looks," The chauffeur grumbled.

Claus heard him, but he didn't really listen as he was too entranced by the city and wondered how much progress this place made. "Lucas, guys, why don't we take a look around this place?"

"Didn't you say we should meet this Porky guy first?" Kumatora asked.

"Yeah, but this place is unfamiliar to all of us, so exploring it would be beneficial, and then we'll find Master Porky," Claus said logically.

" _Sounds good to me! Why don't we find a place to eat here? There's all kinds of yummy smells, and we haven't gotten to eat much since Tanetane Island!"_ Boney barked happily.

Claus groaned as he was reminded of those mushrooms, and Lucas did the same as both of the brothers said, "Don't remind us!"

The two looked at each other before chuckling. It felt both odd and nostalgic to be thinking like twins again.

"Alright, so if we're exploring this place then we should stick together. This place is huge and easy to get lost," Duster said when he assessed the place.

Kumatora tapped her foot a bit before she said, "Well if we're exploring then maybe we'll find the last Needle and we can finally end this long journey."

Claus frowned and turned to the pink haired woman, "W-wait, don't forget you promised to speak with Master Porky before pulling the final Needle."

"Yeah, yeah, I didn't forget kid, don't worry. I'm just saying if we find it then it's a good place to note once we're done with our talk with this Porky guy," Kumatora said. "Now are we going to stand here all day or are we going to explore this place?"

"Let's go then. I've never seen a place this big before, so I'm curious what they have here too." Lucas smiled a little.

* * *

The group walked together as they looked around the bright city of New Pork. There certainly were a lot of buildings and people gathered in this place. It was rather bright and noisy.

There were people they recognized from Tazmily Village, and it seemed they really did all move here like they said they would, but there were also people they've never seen before here.

"Oh Lucas, Claus! You guys all came here too? Does that mean Flint's here? And Duster… is Wess here? If so then that means everyone is here now!" A man said with a smile.

"Mike? I didn't know you moved here too," Lucas said in shock when he recognized the man.

"I came here a little while ago. I guess I just got tired of my slightly unclean cookies and wanted a real job in the city," Mike said with a shrug. "Oh hey, you boys might like the arcades, why don't you try them out?"

"What's an arcade?" Lucas asked.

"I heard Dr. Andonuts said they were games or something," Claus said.

"We don't have time for games," Kumatora said impatiently.

"Calm down, Kumatora, remember what this adventure taught us? It's important to stop and smell the roses, sometimes the roses will give you what you need," Duster said calmly to the hot head woman.

Boney just gave a small snicker at that.

"Come on, it won't take long to try out just one game!" Mike said as he all but pushed the two boys into a building with giant neon words that spelled 'GAME'.

Claus and Lucas just let the man push them while they heard Kumatora fuming outside and Duster trying to calm her down, though they didn't know what Boney was doing, probably laughing at the scene knowing him.

"You do have to use 1 DP to get the game working, but it's worth it. Try it boys!" Mike prompt the two.

Lucas and Claus looked at each other as they stared at the contraption before them. There was a screen with some moving pictures in it, and some kind of controls.

"Uh… is this really okay? This kind of reminds me of Happy Boxes to some degree…" Lucas said hesitantly.

"Well maybe it'll be fun, let's at least give it a chance," Claus said as he took out a Dragon Point coin from his pocket and insert it into the machine. "Dr. Andonuts said kids our age used to play these kinds of games all the time."

Lucas watched as his brother took the joystick in his hand and started moving it around, and noticed the guy on the screen started moving along with the stick. Claus tested the controls to see what each one did, and they caused the guy in the screen to react differently.

Claus started the game and was soon thoroughly enjoying it. Lucas began playing on another arcade next to Claus, and the two were soon lost in the games they were playing.

They were both so into it that they didn't notice a certain pink haired woman standing behind them, "... Excuse me boys, I hate to rain on your oh so important play time but… IT'S BEEN A FREAKING HOUR AND IT'S TIME TO MOVE ON!"

"Wah!" Both Claus and Lucas jumped and fell from their position as if to take cover.

"GAME OVER" The screen said.

"Heh… h-hi Kumatora… it's… already been an hour?" Lucas gulped and waved to her timidly.

" _Yup, we waited for you guys to finish playing but you never stopped. Seems bear-tiger lady here got fed up with waiting,"_ Boney said with a snicker.

Kumatora glared at the dog, but turned her attention back to the two brothers, "No more games for you two! We are leaving and making up for lost time, _now_!"

"But I was just about to get the high score!" Claus whined.

"J-just five more minutes, please?" Lucas begged.

"No! You two are coming NOW!" Kumatora snapped before she grabbed the boys by the arm and all but dragged them out of the arcade.

"Aw come on Kumatora! You didn't even give the arcade a chance!" Lucas whined as they were dragged out.

"You can play all you want once we're finished with our mission! And Claus, I thought you of all people would be more focused on that!" Kumatora groaned, "I guess you two really are twins."

Claus couldn't help but blush and give a sheepish chuckle at that comment. _I guess I haven't really noticed, but I am acting more like Claus than the Commander since I started hanging out with Lucas again. It feels nice and nostalgic, but also alien because it's been so long since I just acted like a kid._

"Well now that we finally pulled you two away from the magical world of gaming, shall we move on and explore the rest of the city?" Duster suggested with an amused chuckle of his own.

"Okay, okay, we're going," Claus said while trying not to laugh.

* * *

The group are now moving along in the city, heading east this time. Lucas stopped when he saw a familiar face talking to a Pigmask.

"Hey! Is that Butch?" Lucas spoke up.

" _You mean the guy who used to own the pig farm?"_ Boney sniffed. _"Yup, that's him alright."_

Claus was more interested in the Pigmask Butch was talking to; it's been a while since he's seen one of his men.

"Hmm? Oh Lucas, and Claus! Hey, you even have Duster and the chick with ya!" Butch waved to them, and Kumatora looked like she was about to give a snarky remark, but held back.

"Hey… uh… Butch, who's the Pigmask with you there?" Claus asked, trying to sound casual, wondering if this was a new recruit or someone who knew him. If the Pigmask was new, he wouldn't know Claus was his Commander, that would be amusing.

"Ah, well this is Isaac. The Pigmasks invited him to this city to do an initiation with him, and now he's an important person, a part of the Pigmasks," Butch answered.

"What? I thought you didn't like the Pigmasks," Claus said, surprised at this, looking at the Pigmask he now knew as Isaac, that man who lived in the woods and gave out antidotes for if someone was poisoned by snakes.

"We don't like the renegades, but the real deal have been helping us, and Isaac grew to really respect them," Butch said.

"That's right. Hey there Lucas, Claus, Duster, Kumatora… and your dog, it's been awhile hasn't it? I've changed a lot since you guys last saw me," Isaac said, and Claus could almost see him smiling in that pig helmet.

Boney gave an annoyed growl at being just called 'your dog', but said nothing else.

"You're… a new recruit to the Pigmasks?" Lucas said timidly.

"Yes, I am. I'm a big shot now!" Isaac said happily, making Claus eye his neck for any signs of the shock collar every new recruit had to wear, surprisingly there wasn't one.

 _No shock collar… and he's not in boot camp… no wonder he's boasting._ Claus thought to himself. _Fassad would never let a new recruit get such a big head… does that mean Fassad isn't in charge of them anymore? Is he okay?_

"But Lucas… Claus…? You guys, are you the special guests Master Porky sent invitations to?" Isaac said in surprise as he studied the group. "Huh... I didn't think you guys were anything special, aside from the psychic powers maybe."

"Hey! What do you mean we're not anything special!? All you did was move into this city and got a fancy costume! We've been exploring all over the island, fighting with chimeras and pulling the Nee-" Kumatora snapped before Duster put a hand over her mouth. "MMPH!"

"Isaac, do you know where Fassad is?" Claus asked the newly recruited Pigmask.

"Fassad? … Oh you mean the man with the new horns after his reconstruction?" Isaac said.

"Reconstruction? Horns?" Claus frowned, not liking where this was going.

"Yeah, apparently his injuries from a bombing was severe, so Dr. Andonuts had to reconstruct him a bit. He's pretty scary with his new look, but he's high on the chain so I have to respect him," Isaac said. "As for where he is now… last I heard he went investigating around the sewers for something, but I don't know what."

"We're also looking for Porky," Lucas said, though couldn't help but look at his brother in concern seeing Claus's worried look about his mentor.

"Master Porky? He should be in his tower… which is the tallest thing in the city. But Lucas, why are you looking for him? You're not going to give him a hard time, are you? If you are, then we're enemies," Isaac said in a serious tone.

Lucas cringed back, first Claus and now Isaac was his enemy?

"Don't get so dramatic. We just want to talk to him, that is all," Claus said in his own serious tone.

"Fine, but don't get in his way, Claus," Isaac said.

With those words said, Isaac turned and left, while Butch just awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.

"Hey, why are you letting him walk away like that? You're his Commander, aren't you?" Kumatora said to Claus, obviously annoyed with Isaac's attitude.

"Yes, I am. But it's amusing to see how people, even Pigmasks, treat a kid they think is not worth their time," Claus answered. "I should go find Fassad… I'm worried about him."

"But Claus, we need to stick together, remember? We'll find Fassad together," Lucas said, trying to reassure his worried brother.

" _But why don't we go eat something first? We won't be able to do much on an empty stomach!"_ Boney barked excitedly when he caught a whiff of a delicious aroma.

Lucas gave a small sigh before petting Boney, "Why don't we see if we can find a place to relax and eat for a bit?"

"That sounds good to me, if we go on any longer I may just pass out," Duster said.

"Alright, but let's hurry along," Kumatora said.

* * *

The group followed Boney as he was leading them to wherever he smelled food, passing through the crowd of people, and soon came to some a set of stairs moving up and down by themselves.

"What is this? How are these stairs moving?" Kumatora questioned.

"They're called escalators, we've had a few of these at the base," Claus explained to them.

They soon came to a building with the strong smell of food and grease, once inside there were a lot of… strange waitresses that all look like the same fat woman with a big, creepy smile and too much makeup.

"What the…?" Kumatora watched them with a sense of unease.

Claus's synthetic eye scanned these people before he said, "They're not alive, they're robots. I guess Master Porky requested these robots."

"That would explain why one of them is walking into a wall," Duster pointed at one that was glitching out and constantly trying to walk through the wall.

Lucas looked around, seeing some people here eating very greasy burgers and cheesy pizza, he had seen a lot of those before in Club Titiboo. Claus himself had seen many Pigmasks eating these kinds of food, they're tasty but very unhealthy.

"Maybe we should get a large pizza so we can share it between us," Kumatora suggested, not at all bothered by the greasy food.

Duster was already at the counter, ordering the pizza. Boney was wagging his tail and drooling.

Lucas and Claus went to sit at a table while Kumatora was busy looking at the robot maids, leaving the two brothers alone for a bit.

"Hey Claus… when was the last time we just sat down and ate together?" Lucas asked his brother.

"Probably since our birthday," Claus answered.

"Yeah, things have been quite hectic since the day after our birthday," Lucas said before he gave a sigh. "Hey Claus… if we don't agree with Porky, then… will we still be enemies?"

"Let's not think about that right now, Lucas. I rather just enjoy our truce while it lasts," Claus said with a tired voice.

"So is that a yes?" Lucas frowned. "Claus, I don't want you to be my enemy, but you know I have to pull the last Needle…"

"I know, Lucas. Maybe if I wasn't found by Fassad by the time I awoken my PSI, then we would be on the same page, but as it is right now I can't help but disagree with that method. Although, I'm more torn up about it than I have ever been before, that's why I want us to talk to Master Porky before deciding what to do," Claus said as he looked at his brother in the eyes.

Lucas looked at Claus in the eyes too, both of them couldn't help but notice how similar yet different they became in the span of three years, because of the Pigmasks and how much they changed Claus, physically and mentally.

"Alright, food's here!" Duster announced as he put down the big box of cheesy pizza onto the table.

"About time, I'm starving!" Kumatora all but roared as she marched to the table.

It didn't take long for Duster, Kumatora and even Boney to dig into the pizza. Lucas and Claus ate theirs at a slower pace. Claus did like how the pizza tasted and it felt nice having something in his stomach after a while, still he couldn't help but worry that once they're done and find Porky they might become enemies again. Lucas is probably worried about the same thing, so the two boys wanted to take their time.

After they were done eating, the group left the cafe feeling more satisfied, and they wondered where to explore next.

* * *

 _The city is a pretty huge place, so we kept exploring the area. There was an amusement park, perfect for children and parents alike if they're looking for thrills. We passed by the tower a few times but didn't go into it yet, surprisingly not even Kumatora was all the eager to get inside and she was the one who kept pushing us to move along… I guess none of us were really ready for me to be their enemy again. We decided to explore a bit more, we've seen more people crowding in and even more Pigmasks in the area, though most of them were the standard soldiers. Where are the other Pigmasks? Are they in the tower? We passed by a giant Porky statue, though there was something about it that disturbed me… But anyways, we decided to check out the theater next, and a movie was playing._

The movie in the theater showed a boy about Lucas and Claus's age, wearing a striped shirt, blue shorts, and a red cap over his black hair. The boy was traveling with a girl in a pink dress and blond hair, a boy with with a nerdy style, glasses and a blond haired bowl cut, and an Asian looking boy wearing a white karate-like gi. The four were exploring a desert-like region, and their names were Ness, Paula, Jeff and Poo, the latter's name did bring out a laugh in Kumatora and Boney.

"I wonder if Master Porky knew these people before?" Claus wondered to himself, though it could just be a movie and nothing more.

"But those boys and girl can use PSI, why haven't I heard of them?" Kumatora frowned, looking at the screen completely baffled.

"It's probably just a movie Kumatora, nothing more," Claus said to her.

Kumatora was still frowning, but eventually just shrugged her shoulders. After all, Claus thought to himself, maybe Porky just decided to make a movie based off of the PSI that was so important in their lives. Though he didn't recognize some of the PSI used in the movie… Perhaps it was just PSI that Porky made up.

 _I mean PK Rockin'? That sounds like something only Master Porky could come up with._ Claus mused.

"Is it just me or does it stink in here?" Lucas spoke up, his face scrunching up from the smell.

"Hey, my breath isn't _that_ bad." Duster frowned.

" _I don't think that's you, Duster, though you could try brushing your teeth once in a while, and this is coming from someone with dog breath,"_ Boney chuckled before sniffing around for the smell. _"Eeew, it's really strong in the seats… Hey, why don't you guys look at your seats?"_

Claus frowned a bit as he scanned the place with his eye, then he turned to Lucas as he detected a very small lifeform. "... Lucas… you might want to sit up… I think there's a bug in your seat."

Lucas's eyes opened wide immediately. "A w-what!?"

Lucas jumped away from the seat when an abnormally large bug bounced up. It hopped around for a few moments - to which Lucas was trying to avoid it at all costs - when it finally jumped into the light of the movie on the screen for everyone to see.

"Yuck, what kind of poor stinkin' place _is_ this?" Kumatora commented in disgust, not looking too fond at seeing the bug either.

" _The kind where stuck up princesses go apparently,"_ Boney commented, making her give him a death glare. _"Err… I-I mean… hey! You big stinkbug! What are you doing here? Get away from my kids!"_

Boney barked as the stinkbug hopped away, the dog gave chase and the people in the theater were complaining at all the loud noises. Claus and Lucas gave chase to Boney while Kumatora and Duster were trying to remain as invisible as possible from the angry crowd.

"I'll try to forget what Boney said just this once…" Kumatora said since Duster was already patting her back to calm her down.

* * *

Claus was catching up with Boney, but Boney was still hot on the stinkbug's tail. The bug quickly hopped into a large hole in one of the speakers. Before the two boys could do anything about it, Boney squeezed himself right through the hole after the bug.

"NOOOO! Boney, why did you do that!?" Claus exclaimed first when he made it to the speaker. The hole was large, but not enough for a developed human to fit through.

Lucas eventually caught up… along with some angry tourists behind him. "He… squeezed himself… in _there_?" he huffed out, "Where… does it even… go?"

"Ugh! It stinks worse than the stinkbug!" Claus groaned as his red eye scanned it. "... You've got to be kidding me, why would anyone build a theater right next to the sewer?"

"Hey! You kids! You're making too much noise, get out!" Someone yelled at them.

"Cool your jets, we're leaving!" Claus snapped at the person before grabbing his brother's arm and all but dragged him out of the theater. "What was Boney thinking? Going after a little bug like that…"

"Probably to get away from Kumatora's wrath…" Lucas muttered.

"... Then I don't blame him," Claus said. "Still, how are we going to find our way to the sewer?"

They walked out of the building, and Duster and Kumatora caught up with them.

"I can't believe you raised a stink over a stinkbug, that movie was getting good too," Duster grumbled.

"I bet it was…" Claus grumbled. "But we have a bigger problem right now, and it's that Boney's in the sewers. He might find Fassad down there too, and I don't want to think about what he might do to Boney… especially if he thinks Boney is rabid."

"Um…" Lucas said, trying to rack his brain for ideas. "Maybe we can look around for an entrance?"

"Are you kidding!? This place is HUGE! We barely explored a fraction of this place in, what, a few hours we've been here now?" Kumatora responded impatiently. "There has to be a better way."

"Isn't there any way to get down there?" Lucas asked, concerned for Boney just as much as his brother.

"There might be a manhole or something that leads to it," Claus suggested. "Maybe we can find one from a high place, like where that statue of Master Porky was."

"Sounds good to me, we better hurry then." Duster nodded.

"Can't believe how much trouble that dog is causing," Kumatora grumbled.

"You two really need to settle with your differences," Claus sighed.

The group hurried to the place where the statue was, and climbed up the ladder to it. Claus froze when he reached the top of the ladder, "Oh… no…"

"Claus? What's wrong?" Lucas asked since his brother was the first one at the top.

Claus was staring down at a red nightmare he thought he got rid of back in Snowcap Mountain. The large-mouthed chimera with the little chick on its head looked down at him, and there was a twinkle of murder in its evil yellow eyes. It was just then that Claus noticed that it was eerily quiet and no one was around in the area.

"... Claus?" Lucas asked. "Is… something wrong?"

"Lucas… jump down of the ladder now…" Claus said in a very low serious tone.

"Um… it's kind of far, can't you just say-"

Before Lucas could finish, a loud roar interrupted him, it was so loud it shook the entire ladder they were on.

"W-what was that?" Duster spoke up from below Lucas.

"NOW, Lucas!"

"O-okay!" Lucas just let go of the ladder where he was, crashing into Kumatora below him and Duster at the bottom of the ladder. They landed in one giant heap at the bottom.

"The _heck_ , Lucas!?" Kumatora said through gritted teeth. She shifted her focus to Claus who was still at the top of the ladder. "HEY, Claus! What _was_ that up there?"

Claus was now staring at a moving statue, it started stepping off the pedestal it was on and looking at the Ultimate Chimera. "A monster and a moving statue. Seriously, we should get the heck out of here!"

Claus jumped off the ladder as the two beasts started going at it, "We have to get away from here!"

"What's going on up th-"

"Just go!" Claus shouted, grabbing Lucas's arm and trying to run as far away from the scene as possible.

* * *

Just as they were beginning to run, the giant Porky statue was pushed off and crashed behind them. The force made them all flip through the air a bit, and the Ultimate Chimera jumped on top of the statue, roaring.

The statue punched the red chimera off it before standing back up. The two titans were still going at it with each other.

"What the heck is that thing!?" Kumatora shouted when they landed on the ground.

"I think the statue is a new defense mechanism robot… and that red thing? Yeah, that's what you get when you mess with nature too much. That's the Ultimate Chimera, said to be invincible and incredibly aggressive, stay away from it!" Claus quickly explained as the group were backing away.

"Who'd make a chimera like that?" Duster groaned.

"Look out!" Claus yelled when the statue threw the chimera towards them.

They ran in different directions, trying to get away, but the chimera landed on Claus.

"Ugh…!" Claus groaned, struggling to reach its back where the button to turn it off was. Unfortunately for him, the Ultimate Chimera immediately turned around, roaring in the poor boy's face. The mouth was so huge that Claus could see the back of the monster's throat.

"C-Claus!" Lucas cried out. "PK Love!"

The younger twin let out an alpha version of PK Love. It didn't do anything, but it caught the creature's attention… Both of them. Both the Ultimate Chimera and the Porky statue were now focused on Lucas, since the attack had hit both of them.

"Lucas! Lucas get out of here!" Claus yelled to his brother.

The Porky statue and the Ultimate Chimera were now heading towards the boy, who was backing away in fear but refused to run away.

Duster threw a smoke bomb at the red chimera while Kumatora tried to hit the statue with a PK Freeze, but nothing worked. The Ultimate Chimera was unfazed by the smoke and the statue didn't even flinch from the PSI attack.

"P-PK Flash!" Lucas did that out of instinct rather than anything else, the bright flash hit the statue and it suddenly froze. Bright neon crevices appeared throughout the statue, slowly spreading throughout the surface before it was encased in a web of cracks. A crackling, cacophonic sound resounded throughout the area before the statue exploded in a display of concrete fragments.

Lucas, along with everyone else there, including the Ultimate Chimera, stared at the spot where the Porky statue had just been annihilated before turning to Lucas. The young boy blinks and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"What… the… hell, Lucas." Kumatora stared at the blond haired boy, unable to keep the curse from her mouth.

"I… didn't know PK Flash could do that…" Duster said in shock.

"Me neither…" Lucas quietly said, still astounded himself. But all of them didn't have any time to revel in the victory; they still had another, possibly more dangerous threat right in front of them. The Ultimate Chimera let out a roar, seeing that it now had much easier targets.

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: ... Oh, I guess I should explain. The reason why it took two weeks to update the past few chapters is because they were really long, two weeks worth long. I've decided to cut it this time so you guys don't have to wait two weeks again. ^^' Anyways, fun fact; I was actually playing Mother 3 and in New Pork City while doing this chapter. It really put me in the mood, and oh, looks like The Ultimate Chimera is back. :3 Anyways, I'll get on with the reviews and Donfyre and I are looking forward to hearing from you.**

 **Bloxxerstudios1 : Well... I guess all the fanfiction stuff you like just happens to be the ones we write. ^^'**

 **sunflowermaiden210 : I'm glad you think so.**

 **Joltik12 : It's implied Duster and Kumatora like each other in the game, not strongly but still there. If I could something in RoR, probably the beginning so it wouldn't seem so lazy, like actually write out how Hinawa died and the boys' reaction. And why Claus is so relatable? Well that mostly depends on what kind of person you are, but he does suffer from a bit of low self esteem and is a bit envious of his brother, believing he's the better one of the two of them, and I can imagine a lot of people can relate to that. There are still quite a few chapters to go, but not a whole lot.**

 **Donfyre: D-do I REALLY have to answer that? Urgh... w-well... it's not exactly far off the mark to say that I might like the idea of... y'know... being with Fox. *blushes***

 **DarkFoxKit: Heh, it's a nice idea too. hugs Fyre Does that answer your question, Joltik12?**

 **Donfyre: I-it better! pouts Well... at least you admit it too, Fox. ^^;**

 **Shimo no ko : It's fine, it's always good to hear from you even if it's later than usual. And I guess you could see it as filler, but I thought it would be important to establish Claus' relationship with Kumatora and Duster before moving on with the plot. And you'll see what Porky's been up to. :P**

 **FanofFiction123 : Fyre and Lucas are both timid yet sweet boys, huh? X3 I would so love to see someone make a comic out of that little scene. And it's good to see you love how funny the chapter was. XD And it's nice to be able to put an argument with no right or wrong answer between the characters. I love the sibling fluff too. :D Heh, have fun with the Undertale fics! I hope you enjoy them.**

 **AShinyBlueMew : I didn't understand what you said here. I might make a new story for the 'after game' as there is a lot of potential to continue after the end. It just depends on when I can or want to get to it. And who said anything about Donfyre being a Delta Species Wooper? When I said he was fiery red hot, I meant due to the fact he was blushing a lot, not that he was a Fire type.**


	40. Chapter 40: A New Friend

**DarkFoxKit: *Is jumping on Fyre's back* Come on Fyre, I'm not really sleepy, let's say hi to the readers. They wanna see us do stuff, right? Right? RIGHT!?**

 **Donfyre: W-wah! DX *is trying to crawl away from the crazy Fox who was trying to grab me* Y-you WERE tired just earlier, and then you suddenly turned into… that! Are you sure you're not so sleepy that you went sleep drunk?**

 **DarkFoxKit: What'zzat? Sleep drink? I've never heard of someone sleep drinking before, do you do that? I mean you are a water type, and all. Oooh, can I see you do that? Huh? Huh? HUH? *moves closer to Fyre***

 **Donfyre: Meep! *looks at Fox nervously and gulped* … H-heeey, l-look at that! The AN for RvR is starting! W-why don't we focus on that right now? ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Yay! *Picks up the camera and shakes it* Hi readers! How're you all doing? Great I hope! This next chapter has an unusual twist with Claus and the Ultimate Chimera and- *Fyre pushed her away***

 **Donfyre: Yeesh, next thing you know we're gonna be getting complaints from our readers getting dizzy. *picks up the camera and places it back on its stand* Sorry about that, readers. ^^; Fox is, uh… *looks over at her, who was staring this way while stumbling a little* … tired. She's been up for a while. Anyways, you heard from the Fox about this next chapter! There's gonna be something interesting coming up, and be glad I stopped Fox before she could ruin the surprise. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: *Wobbles over on Fyre and lays her head on his stomach* Comfy beeeeeed.**

 **Donfyre: W-whoa! *falls back with Fox nuzzling all over him* … Uh, you just get on with the chapter, readers. ^^; I'll see if I can get this tired/clingy Fox to get some rest. … Jeez, this is some weird role reversal.**

* * *

 **Chapter 40: A New Friend**

The Ultimate Chimera charged at Lucas since he was the biggest threat, but Claus jumped on it and blasted its head with his PSI Blast, shoving it away from his brother.

"Oh no you don't! If you want to pick on someone, pick on _me_ ," Claus hissed at the red chimera.

The Ultimate Chimera gave a growl as it ran at Claus, who ran in the opposite direction from his friends.

"Lucas! You guys go find Boney, I'll keep this thing distracted!" Claus called out to them.

"N-no! Claus!" Lucas tried running after him, but he felt something grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Leave it, Lucas. I'm sure Claus can handle himself, and we'll meet up with him again soon. We should try to find Boney so we won't be so preoccupied once we meet up with Claus again," Duster said, trying to reassure the boy.

Lucas looked torn, he couldn't believe that they were losing their friends like this. Kumatora was surprisingly supportive about this.

"It's okay, Lucas, that brother of yours is tough, he'll be fine. But the sooner we find that troublesome dog of yours, the sooner we can get back with Claus." Kumatora smiled at him as they hurried to find a manhole of any kind.

* * *

Meanwhile, Claus was still trying to outrun the giant mouth chimera chasing him, but he stopped when he saw there were people down the streets.

 _Dang it! If I go any further, innocent people will be in danger!_ Claus turned to face the Ultimate Chimera, and it gave a roar at him. _If I could just… get behind it somehow! Or find another way to get it OUT of here!_

The Ultimate Chimera jumped at Claus with its mouth wide open, ready to chomp down on his head, but it couldn't. Claus had activated his Thunder Striker sword and used it to keep its mouth from snapping shut on him. The boy found himself on its tongue and staring at the creature's uvula at a very uncomfortable proximation.

"Huh… seems you're just as much of a freak as I am…" Claus mumbled as his red eye picked up signs of organs and machinery within the Ultimate Chimera. "It makes me wonder what they did to you while in that lab."

Claus felt the chimera struggling now that it was unable to swiftly defeat him. Claus could feel some of the creature's saliva splatter onto him.

"Ugh, yuck… You must be pretty hungry," Claus muttered to himself.

The Ultimate Chimera growled as it was struggling to break Claus's sword that had stopped it from closing its mouth. Claus tried to slip out of its mouth, but the creature's tongue kept him from doing so. Claus decided to try and talk to it, maybe it'll delay the inevitable until someone was bold enough to become his dues ex machina and shut it off.

"You probably weren't always this way… what was the purpose of making you like this? Master Porky sure has a weird way of showing he cares sometimes, but he _does_ care you know? The world isn't perfect, but we're always trying hard to fix it with our own hands… You probably felt the same way... is that why you were chosen to become the Ultimate Chimera?" Claus asked it, though he wasn't sure if it could understand him.

The chimera let out a low growl, but it didn't sound all that hostile. The boy shrugged and decided to keep going, perhaps venting out his confusion would help him sort this out if he managed to get out of here alive.

"I mean I wanted to help fix the world… that was one of the biggest reasons I joined the Pigmask army… why does it have to be destroyed? Why do all of us have to pay the ultimate price to fix up this dead world? Relying on a dragon… on some big phenomenal power or miracle to fix our problems… is that really the right way to go? Dad said sometimes not everything can be in our control… but surely the Pigmasks can rebuild the world, right? Humans, Pigmasks, animals, chimeras… we all still live in this world… so isn't it our duty to protect it?"

The chimera didn't seem to move around as much, almost as if it was… curious?

"You're probably angry with what they have done to you, and you want vengeance and lash out at the people who betrayed you, betrayed your trust, and made you this way. Believe me when I say I'm terrified… terrified one day I would wake up and no longer be myself… that I could just be an emotionless robot only doing the Pigmask's will… but I keep going, because… I want to save everyone, that was why I joined them in the first place. What about you? What was your reason for letting them do this to you? Did you not have a choice or was there a point when you had wanted to help in some way?"

Claus could feel the Ultimate Chimera calming down. Its growl was replaced with… what sounded to be an almost purring sound. Whatever it was, it sounded both contented and empathetic at the same time. Claus sighed in relief, he was hopeful that maybe he managed to get to this chimera with a soothing talk somehow. Veeeery slowly, the chimera opened up its mouth wider, letting Claus finally take a step back into fresh air. But he was still covered in slobber.

"Oh geez, I really need a change of uniform…" Claus sighed.

The chimera nudged him a bit from behind, almost making Claus lose his balance. "Huh?"

The Ultimate Chimera stared at him before the little bird from its head jumped from its head onto Claus's, giving a chirp.

"... Hey, don't leave a present for me or anything please. But it seems we've reached an agreement." Claus smiled as he grabbed the hilt of his sword from the chimera's mouth and deactivated it. "Hmm… hey, do you know where Fassad is?"

The Ultimate Chimera stood up and turned around, looking back at the boy. Claus blinked, wondering why it would show its most vulnerable spot to him like that, then the bird from his head flew back on the chimeras head.

"... Are you… telling me to ride on you?" Well this was certainly an unexpected development. Claus couldn't help but get a brief flashback of riding on Dragos long before the Mecha Drago came into existence.

The chimera just gave a small growl as it waited for Claus to climb on. The boy blinked before giving a nervous shrug, the irony was astounding. A few moments ago the chimera was trying to kill him, now it's letting him ride it.

"Okay… if you know where Fassad is, then take me to him," Claus said as he cautiously climbed onto the chimera's head, half expecting it to suddenly buck him. To his relief though, the chimera didn't do anything at all, and even seemed a little happy with the young Commander seated on its back.

* * *

The chimera ran with Claus hanging on, he watched as the people gave yelps of shock and surprise as the red beast ran past them. Claus didn't know where the chimera was going until it ran into the game building. It gave a roar and the people inside all screamed in fear as they ran out. Then the chimera began pushing a large table at the center of the building with its head.

Claus watched in shock as the table moved to show a manhole there, "... Why is there a manhole in the middle of an arcade…? I don't want to know."

The boy jumped down from the chimera's back and noticed it was sitting and almost grinning at him.

 _Without the hostility, this chimera reminds me of Boney in a way._ Claus thought to himself in amusement.

"Maybe I should call you Chompy, calling you The Ultimate Chimera can be a mouthful," Claus joked.

It seemed to like that name, roaring softly in contentment. Claus could see a gathering crowd from outside staring at both him and the Ultimate Chimera - now Chompy - just having a 'boy and his dog' moment in the arcade.

"Well… we better go, Chompy. I don't want the cops… or Pigmasks coming here trying to detain you," Claus said to the red beast.

The manhole was thankfully big enough for the chimera to fit through, though Claus did have to push Chompy through from the other side before they managed to squeeze their way into the sewers.

"Ugh… why would Fassad come down _here_ of all places?" Claus grumbled as he pinched his nose from the putrid smell. Chompy didn't really seem to mind the smell all too much, still leading the way in front of Claus. He supposed a living experiment wouldn't really mind some questionable things. The boy reluctantly followed, still not liking the smell that pervaded the air.

There were some robotic cockroaches crawling the place, which made Claus grumble, "Really Dr. Andonuts? Robot cockroaches? As if the normal cockroaches weren't bad enough and hard to kill."

But thankfully with his new companion Chompy, one crunch and those robot bugs were in pieces. Claus was thankful that Chompy was on his side, and horrified at how close he was to sharing these cockroaches' fate.

Chompy then looked up and started scratching the ground with its front paw. Claus recognize this behavior as whenever Boney found something.

"Did you find him?" Claus looked around before Chompy gave a roar.

* * *

Looking up, the boy saw what he thought looked like Fassad floating in the ceiling.

"... Fassad…? Is that you?" He called out cautiously as the… thing that looked like Fassad slowly floated down as if cautious itself.

The… thing that looked like Fassad had a couple of golden long horns sticking out of his nose, and his left eye was red, similar to Claus's red eye, and behind him was a pair of jets that allowed him to fly, similar to Claus's jetwings. This weird looking Fassad stayed a distance from Chompy, not that Claus would blame anyone for that.

"Fassad…?" Claus asked cautiously.

Fassad began playing those horns, it sounded a lot like smooth jazz.

"'Claus, my love, it's you!'" Right beside Fassad, a robotic looking woman appeared. "No wait, that's not right, 'Claus, my boy, it's you!' he really says."

Claus's confusion was slowly turning into dread. _What_ had happened to Fassad?

"'Don't look so down, now.' he says. 'I know I don't look normal, but I'm still alive and that's what counts. And I have this interpreter beside me to recount what I am saying. Though her skills are shoddy at best.'" The robot interpreter translated. She didn't seem to mind Fassad's comment about her skills.

"Fassad… I… you… did they… turn you into a chimera?" Claus asked, his stomach feeling unease with dread at seeing his mentor like this.

"'Ah, now that's a harsh way of putting it. Simply been reborn into this stronger me! Though… cognitive function and speech would have been nice to keep. But at least now I can defend myself better with more than just my PSI. Nwehehe!' He is now referring to your pet beside you, 'Speaking of chimeras… what are you doing with the Ultimate Chimera!?'"

Claus looked at Chompy, who was just watching Fassad and the robot lady in curiosity rather than hostility. The boy gave a sheepish chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Uh… well… Fassad, meet Chompy. I uh… almost got eaten… then we had a little heart to heart chat and now… we're best buds!" Claus answered sheepishly. "Chompy took me down here when I asked him to find you."

"'...' That inaudible silence was intentional. He resumes, 'Well, uh… As long as it's on our side, then I won't complain. Just be sure it stays under control around the citizens or Pigmasks! Now… what were you down here to see me for, Claus?'" It felt odd to hear a robot speaking for Fassad, and Fassad himself can only speak in 'smooth jazz'.

The boy sighed, already missing the old Fassad, but he said, "I'm sure you know already, but I've failed to stop the pulling of six Needles, and yours is the only one left. Lucas will pull that one if we don't stop him soon, and I've managed to buy us some time by convincing him and his group to speak with Master Porky before pulling your Needle, but… I'm not sure if even Master Porky will be able to convince them at this rate. Lucas is just too determined to stop until all seven Needles are pulled."

"'Lucas? I saw the boy and his group pass by just just a few minutes ago. If you want to stop him from succeeding, now is the time.' he says."

"Uh…" Claus hesitated, "About that Fassad… I uh… can't… right now… you see, I uh… had to get Lucas and his group to make a deal with me; to not pull the last Needle until _after_ they spoke with Master Porky… as long as they keep their end of the bargain, then we are in a temporary truce." Claus left out the part about Lucas knowing who he was.

"'A truce? How did you manage to negotiate with his group when you two are enemies of opposing sides?'" Fassad, with his strange appearance, now looked himself to be intrigued.

Claus gulped, not sure how he should answer this. Chompy gave him a slight nudge to the side as if reassuring him.

The boy gave a sigh before he said, "Well… while I was fighting them, a very special homemade gift fell out of my pocket and… well… after that, Lucas pretty much figured out who I was and took off my helmet."

At this, Fassad froze on the spot. In fact the Chimera-Magypsy was so frozen that his jets shut off and he fell into the sludge water with a SPLASH. Claus and the robot interpreter just stared at the water Fassad fell into.

"I'm in big trouble, aren't I," Claus deadpanned, knowing he was without questioning it.

Just after Claus said that, Fassad immediately emerged from the sewer water (now completely covered in grime), with a new sense of fire in his eyes, spewing tunes from the golden horns of his mouth that echoed throughout the sewers.

"'Claus!' he says with vigor, 'How could you let your identity slip so easily, after all the efforts we've worked for just to hide it!?'"

It was so odd hearing the robot yelling at him and Fassad just tooting his horns- that also sounded weird- that Claus couldn't stop himself from laughing. The boy began cracking up and holding his stomach as he laughed. The situation may be less than favorable, but this was just too much.

"It seems as if Fassad is confused right now. His words are difficult to decipher, 'Claus?! Why do you laugh like vigorously that? This pandemic situation - very serious! - is important! Claus? Claus!'" The robot translator herself was stumbling on her words.

Chompy gave a small roar as Claus tried to calm himself down from that. That was certainly a good laugh.

Claus had to breathe in a bit, despite the stank air, to try and speak again, "S-sorry Fassad… this is just… very… weird, erm… I uh… I apologize for my behavior and lack of… discipline. Erm… so uh… what do you propose we do in this situation Jazz- I mean Fassad?" It was clear the boy was trying hard just to not let out a crack of laughter right now.

"Fassad is thinking… oh, now he says, 'If you think Master Porky could pursue them, it might be our best hope right now. You know where Master Porky is, right? He's on the 100th floor of the Empire Porky Building, however there's been some… renovations and booby traps set for the 100th floor, Claus. They're meant for intruders, and you can only use elevators to get there.'"

"Okay, first off… why can't there be special permission to just getting to him right away? And second; why only an elevator? Do you know how dangerous that is in case of an emergency?" Claus sighed.

"What was that? … 'The Master floor is on the 100th Porky permission special.' Oh wait… 'There is a special permission to getting there right away. It's something for Pigmask members to use.'"

"And what's that?" Claus asked.

"'For you, it would be your mechanical arm, just have it scanned and they'll know it's you right away.' Oh wait, that's not right… 'The chip in your brain will be scanned automatically.'"

"... That is… very… disturbing…" Claus groaned, not liking to be reminded of the chip in his brain.

"'It is the only way that-'"

"CLAUS!" A very loud, very familiar voice quickly interrupted them. "Claus, get away from there!"

* * *

Before Claus had any time to react, he saw Lucas and the rest of his group show up not too far from them, with Boney accompanying them again. It seemed like they had found Boney while Claus was busy talking with Fassad and his robotic translator. They kept their distance, eyeing Chompy distrustfully.

Claus gave a nervous chuckle and sheepishly waved, "Uh… hi Lucas… have you met Chompy?"

Lucas stared at his brother and at the beast in disbelief, "... Claus… _what_?"

"What are you doing standing right next to the thing that almost killed us?" Kumatora demanded.

"Well Chompy and I had a little heart-to-heart and it turns out it's not such a bad chimera," Claus said quickly. "It was just angry because of what the Pigmasks did to it."

"' _Chompy?' You better not be trying to replace me, I may be older than you two boys but I'm still young and kicking!"_ Boney huffed.

"Um… so that… Chompy isn't going to try and eat us anymore?" Duster asked cautiously.

"Chompy and I are cool, in fact it's a great transportation!" Claus smirked as Chompy gave a playful push to Claus's back.

"Wow… I just… can't believe how much like Bo- I mean like a dog it's acting now that it's calm," Lucas said, watching Chompy playing with his brother a bit.

Boney gave a small irritated growl, _"Don't compare me to that thing!"_

"And who's that up there?" Duster asked, pointing at Fassad and the translator robot.

Fassad started playing the horns again.

"Fassad says, 'I am Claus's mentor, Fassad. If you wish to speak with Master Porky then I will await you at the 100th floor of the tower, where he resides.'" The translator robot answered for him.

Before anyone could say anything else, Fassad flew away from them and out of the sewers. The translator robot looked around.

"... And that concludes today's translation," she said before flying away, presumingly to follow Fassad.

* * *

Lucas was still a bit fazed at what they had just walked into. A previously-murdering-machine chimera now tamed and Fassad turned into a living instrument. Shaking his head, he looked back to his brother and said, "Hey Claus, we found Boney chasing that stinkbug through here, and we met up with someone who used to live in Tazmily Village."

Claus blinked at this, "Who?"

"Do you remember that really tall man who used to always stand beside the bell?" Lucas asked.

It took a minute or two for Claus to think about that, before he did remember seeing someone that tall three years ago. "... Do you mean Leder? He just kinda disappeared when the Pigmasks came…"

"Yeah, we found him in the deepest part of the sewers, apparently he's made a home here," Kumatora said. "Though how he could live with the stench is beyond me."

Claus was rather surprised to hear that Leder was living here, what was he doing here? Why did he leave the village?

Lucas spoke up, "He told us… about this world, and why pulling the Needles were so important."

"And he mentioned the egg… the Humming Bird Egg I was supposed to take from Osohe Castle long ago… it holds everyone's memories of what happened with this world," Duster said. "But I guess that's not important anymore, not once Lucas pulls the last Needle."

Claus frowned, he really didn't like it when they talk about pulling the last Needle, it would mean total annihilation for them all so the new world could be made. Still, he knew he couldn't talk them out of it, if it hadn't worked for the last six Needles, it's not going to work now. Claus had no choice but to pin everything on Master Porky now.

"Well I'm glad Leder pretty much established what we already knew," Claus said. "Now that Boney's here, we should get to Master Porky."

"Um… is your… new pet coming with us too?" Kumatora asked, eyeing Chompy as it scratched its head with its hind foot.

Claus looked at Chompy and smiled, "I just got a fun idea."

* * *

The entire city of New Pork was getting more and more crowded, people were in line for everything, others were getting jobs. Then they scattered and screamed when a giant red creature with a huge mouth and sets of sharp teeth came charging by. On its back were two kids, a dog, a man and a woman.

"WHY DID WE AGREE TO THIS!?" Kumatora shouted as the chimera made for a bumpy ride.

Lucas was hanging onto Claus for dear life, while Claus himself was having the time of his life. He should've gotten a loyal steed years ago! While flying is a better way to travel, it sure was a lot of fun to ride through the roads like this.

Before long, Chompy jumped and landed in front of the Porky Tower's doors. Claus was laughing, especially when he saw the faces of terror on his brother's and friends' faces.

"Hahahaha! You guys should see the looks on your faces!" Claus laughed as he pointed at them.

"This is not funny, kid!" Kumatora snapped.

"What a bumpy ride… at least it's not as bad as teleporting," Duster said as he slid off the Ultimate Chimera.

" _Can't believe you're replacing me with THIS!"_ Boney whined.

Lucas gave a small chuckle despite himself, "I think it's great Claus made a new friend, and a powerful one too."

"Thanks for the help, Chompy. I'll whistle ya if I need you, okay? And please try not to hurt anyone," Claus said to the red chimera, petting its head.

Chompy let out a growl and nod before it ran off somewhere in the streets. Hopefully it doesn't go on a rampage again.

"Okay, so we finally made it to the tower where Master Porky resides," Claus said, turning serious. "Remember to talk and negotiate, that means no threatening him, got it Kumatora?"

"Why are you looking at _me_ for?" Kumatora grumbled.

"Well you are the most… wild one around here," Duster admitted.

Kumatora glared at the thief, but sighed and said, "Alright, alright, I promise not to say anything rash or insulting while we negotiate, happy?"

"Very much so." Claus smiled while Kumatora huffed.

The group went into the tower, where they saw a lot of people in there already. Lucas gave a sigh.

"I think all these crowded places and dirty air is giving me a headache," Lucas said as he put a hand over his forehead.

"Is it really that bad?" Claus asked in concern for his brother.

"Maybe we should find a place to rest for the night. We'll all need to be at our best when we confront this Porky person," Duster suggested.

" _I'm all for it. I'm pretty tired myself, and could use some food,"_ Boney agreed.

Claus sweatdropped, "Uh… okay. I think there's an inn inside this tower, we could spend the night in here."

"Then let's get a room and rest up for our negotiations tomorrow," Kumatora said as she stretched.

Claus looked at his brother in concern, "You sure you'll be okay, Lucas?"

"Yeah, it's just a small headache…" Lucas said as the red tint on his face didn't go unnoticed by Claus.

 _Is that... PSI Fever…? If it is, then I wonder what power Lucas is going to awaken now..._ Claus wondered to himself.

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: And now that I'm not sleep drunk anymore, I just wanna say that even though The Ultimate Chimera isn't usually something people use to befriend in their Mother 3 fanfics, I enjoyed doing it. Undertale influenced me, and there was this cute picture I saw of Claus petting the Ultimate Chimera, after I saw that I just had to include it into this story. w So the gang finally made it to the tower, the final destination of the story. What's going to happen next? I'll let you find out in due time, dear readers. :3**

 **Bloxxerstudios : I'm not mean to Donfyre, I'm being nice to him. :3 He really enjoys it when I do these things to him on the AN. I'm sure there are a few fanfiction stories out there that you've read that doesn't have anything to do with us. ^^'**

 **FanofFiction123 : We sort of did since we needed a break from updating, especially since I had to update two of my Undertale fanfics. ^^' Ah, I didn't edit the last chapter, but thanks for telling us, we'll try to lessen the 'all buts'.  
There's a theory that Mother 3 is several years in the future from the EarthBound game, so naturally it'd make sense that there had been kids who played those games all the time back then in their universe too.  
Heh, yeah. Porky made tons of EarthBound references. XP  
Hee, hee, hee. :3  
As for the how many more chapters question, about three, but it depends on if I split them or not, so it could be six. I also may add in some bonus chapters after the end, cause the ending doesn't quite satisfy me.  
*Snickers as I looked at Fyre* You hear that? A fan ships us. :3**

 **Donfyre: ... *blushes* Q-quit teasing.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Awww, but we've been shiiiiiped, it's too late to turn back now~**

 **Donfyre: I-I said shush! turns away from the camera with a pout, trying to hide his blush O-oh great, a lot of people know that I maybe have a crush on you now, don't they?**

 **DarkFoxKit: You just confirmed it. :3**

 **Donfyre: ... WAH! DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: And for your last question, yes, feel free to make a comic out of it. I'd love to see it. :D**

 **Joltik12 : I'm not actually a Zorua, I'm just a little black fox kit. And I remember that in the game, you could get Lucas to play an arcade and he gets sucked into it, so I added that scene along with Claus. :D Ah, I'm sorry about that, I'm an only child but it's still easy to get low self esteem for not meeting your parents' expectations. Oh, so Fyre, what's your answer? _Are_ you a boy or a girl? c:**

 **Donfyre: Who knows? Maybe I'm a girl and Fox is a lesbian. XP But nah, I is a boy! And just out of spite, I'll say you're a girl. c: Also, side-note, I'm Filipino, so hiya! Your account has the flag of the Philippines on it, so yeah.**

 **DarkFoxKit: My mom is also Filipino, even though I'm more American than Filipino. ^^'**

 **Shimo no ko : Well hope you're not too late for this chapter. ;P Slow down? Do you mean by update standards or the story itself? Yeah, Porky has EarthBound/Ness reference all over the place. Everyone always uses the New Year Eve's Bomb on the Porky statue, so I wanted to try the PK Flash instead, plus it was a great opportunity to use it since Lucas hadn't used it often in this story. And Lucas and Claus hanging out together in New Pork City was something I wanted to see too, so I enjoyed writing them together here. Thank you!**

 **doodle234 : Me neither.**

 **AShinyBlueMew : I guess the pacing's slow because I'm showing what they're doing in New Pork City. I was actually playing Mother 3 in New Pork City while writing that part, so I wouldn't miss anything I wanted to write about. The movie? I assumed they were maybe somewhere in the desert, because I remember seeing that in the game.**

 **SimplyAlex : Actually there's about three chapters left until the end, but if I split them it may be six or less. I may have some aftermath/bonus chapters after the end though, so who knows? Thank you for enjoying the story. :D**


	41. Chapter 41: Porky's Story

**DarkFoxKit: *rubbing her eyes* I can't believe I played this game for five hours straight… *looks around* Fyre? Where are you?**

 **Donfyre: *pokes his head through the window* Yeeees? … W-whoa, Fox! You look wasted. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: Hey! Why don't you come and play it? I can go make us something to eat. What do you like?**

 **Donfyre: Ooh, sure! *grabs her controller and plops down on front of the TV* And uh… I'm not hungry, I already ate lunch. ^^; I asked if you wanted anything earlier but you didn't respond, sooo…**

 **DarkFoxKit: *smirks before leaving the room, then came back with a big, chocolate chip cookie.* Okay, guess you don't want this cookie then.**

 **Donfyre: O_O *gulps, staring at Fox intently* Erm… w-well you won't be able to finish that all by yourself, right?**

 **DarkFoxKit: Well I might, after all I am hungry and you already ate your lunch soooo… *takes a small bite from the big cookie***

 **Donfyre: *has completely forgotten about the game and is now just staring at Fox with puppy eyes***

 **DarkFoxKit: Oh don't give me that look. *frowns as Fyre's puppy eyes were too powerful to resist* … Alright, fine! But! You must say something about the chapter before you can have your share.**

 **Donfyre: Yay! :D *turns to the camera* Well… last time you guys left off, Claus had just given the entire gang a ride over to the Empire Porky Building. Now you guys get to see the start of what will happen at their final stop of the journey. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Good boy! *breaks the cookie in half, letting Fyre keep one half* There, happy now, Mr. Cookie Monster?**

 **Donfyre: YAAAY! *completely noms his entire half of the cookie***

 **DarkFoxKit: … Whoa, that boy can eat. ^^' Alright readers, get on with the chapter.**

* * *

 **Chapter 41: Porky's Story**

After getting their rooms in the tower for the night, they went to retire in their rooms. Kumatora and Duster got their own rooms, while Lucas and Claus decided to share a room, along with Boney since pets needed to be accompanied.

"It's been so long since we slept with each other like this, Claus. We haven't since our birthday," Lucas said as he was brushing his blond hair.

"Yeah, it's hard to believe that only a little bit of had time passed since then. It felt like a year or more," Claus said.

" _It sure felt that way in dog years. I getting too old to keep up with you kids,"_ Boney grumbled.

"Hey, don't sound like an old man, Boney. You still got more than a few good years left in you," Claus chuckled softly.

 _That is, if the Dark Dragon doesn't kill us all first._ Claus mentally added to himself.

" _Whatever. I'm just glad this hotel allows dogs. Do you know how stingy Jackie the Inn Owner became with animals since money became a thing in Tazmily? I just wanted to bite his butt and rip his underpants,"_ Boney gave a growl.

"Alright Boney, settle down. I think Kumatora's been rubbing off on you," Lucas said as he rolled his eyes.

" _After this long journey? I'd be surprised if that ill tempered princess_ hadn't _,"_ Boney huffed.

 _I wonder if I should tell Lucas he has PSI fever?_ Claus wondered to himself.

The ginger haired boy couldn't help but feel a little uneasy that his brother has PSI Fever; because it means he'll learn a new PSI technique soon. And there is a very strong chance Claus would have to fight them again to defend the last Needle and the world from the Dragon's wrath. The thought of having to fight Lucas again, and his… _their_ friends made Claus want to hurl. The ginger haired boy hadn't spent a lot of time with Kumatora and Duster like Lucas and Boney had, but they were quick to form a bond with each other despite being on opposing sides. Ever since they found out the Commander's true identity, they've all been really lenient and forgiving to him, even Kumatora.

"Hey Claus… I'm glad you're my brother. And no matter what happens tomorrow, just know that I will always love you," Lucas said softly to Claus as they settled in their bed.

Claus looked at Lucas, surprised that he even said that. It was almost as if he read Claus's mind. Did Lucas managed to gain the PSI ability to read people's minds? No, that couldn't be it… Lucas just knew Claus. They both are connected with each other, even now while being on opposite sides; they were still themselves, they still loved and cared for each other.

"Yeah, same here, Lucas," Claus said softly back.

" _Aww, this is such a sweet moment for you two!"_ Boney wagged his tail. _"I really need to see if I can find a camera for dogs, there's got to be one somewhere!"_

"Oh shut up, Boney!" Claus growled.

* * *

Later, that night, Claus laid awake in bed while he waited for his brother and dog to sleep. Turning his head, he could see the soft breathing of Lucas. Claus gently pushed away Lucas's bangs to feel his forehead… the PSI Fever was still taking its course. It made Claus wonder if he'll be getting one soon.

Silently sighing, Claus slowly got out of bed and made his way to the door.

" _Claus? Where are you going?"_ The boy heard Boney barking softly, low enough not to wake Lucas.

Claus should've known Boney was more of a light sleeper; he woke up when Claus tried to sneak away on the night of their birthday too.

"I'm just going outside for some fresh air. I'm having trouble sleeping," Claus said quietly.

Boney gave a small whine, _"The last time you snuck away at night was when you left for a long time. I don't want you to go again…"_

Claus bend down and softly pet Boney's head, "It's okay Boney… I promise I won't go very far from this tower. If I'm not back here in the morning, then come find me on the 100th floor. I have some things I need to discuss with Master Porky up there."

Boney looked up at Claus, giving a worried look. _"I keep forgetting that you're the Commander of the Pigmasks. It's just hard to think of you that way, because we've been fighting them for a long time…"_

"I know, Boney… but thank you, for protecting my brother. You're a good dog and an even greater friend," Claus said with smile as he stroked Boney's fur. "I couldn't have asked for a better dog than you, Boney."

Boney licked Claus's cheeks. _"Just promise you'll stay safe, Claus. I'm your friend too."_

"Of course, Boney. Now go to sleep… I'll see you all tomorrow, one way or another," Claus said before he stood up and walked out of the door, hearing Boney whimpering softly, almost breaking his heart.

* * *

Claus walked into the lobby of the tower, seeing it less crowded at night made him breathe easier.

"Worried about what's going to happen tomorrow?" Claus jumped when he heard a voice. "Heh, don't worry, I won't bite. I sensed your PSI when you came out here, kinda surprised you didn't sense mine. You must have a lot on your mind."

It was Kumatora.

"Not to be rude, but what are you doing here, Kumatora?" Claus asked.

"Couldn't sleep. I assumed you're here because you couldn't either," Kumatora said. She looked to be deep in thought, a complex half-frown half-worried look on her face. "Of course, you have more reason to be uneasy about tomorrow. If we don't agree with your master, then we'll be enemies again."

Claus looked at her and gave a slow nod, "I… don't want to go against you guys, but…"

"You seemed doubtful though. You weren't sure if pulling the Needles is really such a bad thing anymore, yet you also refuse to think otherwise. You're convinced that everyone will die to make room for the new world," Kumatora said. "The Pigmasks… they're worried about that too."

"Yeah… we were hoping to fix the world ourselves, so we don't have to take that risk," Claus said softly.

"Well, to be honest with you kid… I've had my share of doubts," Kumatora said, surprising the 13 year old boy. "Knowing that pulling the Needles would mean the end of the Magypsies, the very people who practically raised me. And I also knew the risks that we all may die once the Dragon awakened. Like you, Claus, I was against the idea. 'What good is it to make a new world if none of us would be living in it?' I thought. But after I met Lucas… my thoughts of that deteriorated… and when the time came I've decided… my resolve, my purpose, is to help the one chosen by the PK Love to pull the Needles. Even if it meant the death of the Magypsies… I know you and Lucas would create a new world for all of us."

"Me too?" Claus pointed at himself.

"Yes. Believe it or not, Claus, I knew you were more like your brother than you let on to be. You both have pure hearts. I just didn't know that when you were the Commander. To me the Pigmasks were nothing but trouble, standing in the way of my purpose, it's why I got so easily ticked off at them. But when Lucas revealed who you were, it was like I had woken up. It was the first time I realized that the Pigmasks weren't the villains I made them out to be. They stood in our way because what we're doing is no better than what they were doing; we were taking away their own purpose with every Needle we pulled."

Claus stared at the pink haired girl for a minute or two to process this. "Discovering who I was made you think all that?"

"Yes. I had let myself roll all the Pigmasks into one and that they were nothing but trouble. However, when I saw someone I knew and trusted as the Commander I felt… betrayed at first, until I started to think back on your actions, your words and your reluctance to fight us. It made me feel foolish really, that I kept accusing you and your soldiers blindly like that, and for that I'm sorry," Kumatora said in a very sincere tone.

Claus couldn't help but give a small smile, this was a side of Kumatora he only saw a few times; mostly when his brother was hurt or tired. "I accept your apology, Kumatora. You were just doing what you believed was right too… and… if we do become enemies again tomorrow… then-"

"I don't know if I can force myself to fight you," Kumatora interrupted, her voice was very soft.

"Huh?" Claus thought for sure he misheard her.

"You probably find it hard to believe since you saw the angry mask I wear most of the time. But I _hate_ fighting those I care about. It's why I knew you were suffering most of all out of the five of us… if I were in your shoes, Claus, I doubt I would ever be able to fight against any of you. In fact I'd probably would've betrayed the Pigmasks just so I wouldn't have to fight my friends," Kumatora admitted. "Tomorrow, if we're enemies... then I'd rather you use Brainshock to make me forget who you really were."

Claus hesitated, and Kumatora sighed, "I'm sorry to give you such a request, Claus, but I wouldn't be able to bring myself to fight you otherwise."

"I'll consider it, Kumatora…" Claus said.

"Thank you. Let's hope it doesn't have to come to that, it would suck to not remember how much you can kick butt!" Kumatora put on a smile. "Well, I'm going back to bed."

"Yeah, goodnight," Claus gave her a weak smile.

* * *

When Kumatora left his sight, Claus sighed. He had a lot of work to do. First and foremost he had get to the 100th floor, he's got a lot to discuss with Master Porky.

Claus head to the west side of the tower, seeing the elevator there. The boy nodded to himself as he remembered what Fassad said, or the translator robot, about how this elevator was designed to take one to several different floors before it takes them to the 100th floor. However, it can scan for the white band every non-renegade Pigmask wears, and the chip in Claus's brain, and instantly takes them where they want to go.

The young Commander went into the elevator and pushed the 100th floor button. The elevator DINGED and shut the door. There was a small computer above the buttons and scanned the room. Claus jumped back a bit, not expecting that.

A computer voice said, **"SCAN COMPLETE. SUBJECT: CLAUS. RANK: COMMANDER. WELCOME COMMANDER."**

Claus sighed in relief as he felt the elevator moving. There were elevators in the old base, but this is the first time he rode on one this long. The 100th floor was a long way up this tower, so it took a full minute for the elevator to reach the top, before it DINGED and stopped.

" **YOU HAVE REACHED THE 100TH FLOOR."**

The elevator doors opened up, letting Claus walked out, looking around. There was a long hallway with a red carpet. A few Pigmasks were walking through the long hallway, carrying a few boxes. One of them took notice of Claus.

"Oh, Commander sir! You finally made it here!" A Pigmask Major said in surprise while saluting.

"At ease, soldier," Claus said. "There's something I need to discuss with Master Porky."

"Oh, sir, Master Porky is currently residing in his room. You just have to take a boat ride through the Earthbound Museum to reach him," Pigmask Major said.

"The what now?" Claus raised his eyebrow.

"That is what Master Porky calls it. Nobody really knows what it means or why, but we believe it's from his past," The Major said. "Master Porky had also been expecting you, Commander. Best not to keep him waiting."

"Right… I will go see him now," Claus said before he walked through the doorway, coming to an indoor river with a house boat. There were a lot of… interesting exhibits on display down the river.

Claus looked at each exhibit, seeing an old fashioned vehicle, a stuffed purple dinosaur, a submarine, and a lot of machine-like things that he's never seen before. At the end of the boat ride, there was one more exhibit that caught Claus's eye. This exhibit was some kind of giant, metal ball with the Pigmask insignia placed on it.

"What is that?" Claus wondered to himself. "Why does it have the Pigmask insignia on it if this was all from before any of us existed?"

The boy looked at the giant metal ball for another minute before shrugging. It's probably something he should just ask Master Porky about, but his top priority was discussing the matter with Lucas, Boney, Duster and Kumatora about the last Needle.

* * *

Claus walked up the stairs until he came to another door, and there he saw Master Porky in his wheelchair.

"Welcome… Commander Claus… It's good to see my youngest Commander again," Porky said.

"Master Porky…" Claus gave a respectful bow. "I take it you know why I'm here?"

Porky wheezed a bit before he said, "I may have… an idea. So… is it true? Have six of the seven Needles been pulled?"

"Yes, Master Porky. It is unfortunately true," Claus said with a solemn look.

"I see… I was afraid of that… but there was no denying it," Porky wheezed. "So… Fassad's Needle is the last one…"

"I apologize sir… I was unable to stop the pulling of the six Needles…" Claus said, regret filling his tone. "But things got really complicated when the black Pigmask came into the picture. He claims to be the leader of the Renegades."

"Hmm… tell me everything, Commander," Porky said with a cough.

 _And so I told Master Porky everything about what had happened since the third Needle. He didn't seem all that surprised that I ended up pulling three of those Needles. Perhaps Fassad had informed him of it? If so, then why didn't Master Porky send someone over to help me when I went to Tanetane Island?_

"So they now know your identity… I was hoping that would've been avoided… but I suppose it was inevitable. Twins can't fool each other for long, so I commend you for lasting as long as you did… *cough* *wheeze*" Porky said.

"But why did you invite Lucas and the others here?" Claus asked. "It's just… you brought them dangerously close to the final Needle."

"I am aware of the dangers, Commander," Porky wheezed. "However… I wanted to talk to them… maybe they will listen to our reasoning."

"Yeah… that's… that's what I thought too…"

"However… they've already come this far… I will not lie to you, Claus. The chances of them stopping after reaching this tail end of their journey is slim to none, even with our reasoning. Are you prepared to deal with what will happen if they refuse?" Porky asked in a serious tone, despite his scratchy voice.

"... Th-that's… that's what I wanted to talk to you about, Master Porky… I… I don't know which path is right anymore… After I was reunited with my brother as Claus instead of the Commander, I didn't want to leave his side. I didn't want to fight anymore. In fact, I even started to believe that maybe… the Dark Dragon wouldn't destroy everyone… I mean if it inherits either of our hearts, it wouldn't want to, right?" Claus said hesitantly.

Porky gave a sigh before wheezing a bit. "You have been… a very loyal soldier, Commander Claus. Any child your age would've quit long ago… and yet you still remained with us, fighting for what you believe is right. Do you think it's right, Claus? Do you think what we're fighting for is right or is the Dark Dragon really the only way to make things right with this planet?"

"I'm… I'm worried that… it would have to destroy this world in order to make a new one… and by doing so, it would take us out with it…" Claus said. "But… lately I've wondered… would the Dragon really just let us all die if it's truly going to inherit one of our hearts?"

"It's hard to say," Porky said, wheezing a bit. "But… if you really want the world to be reborn… what will you think happen to the old one? *cough* It… it would have to go first… and if this world gets wiped out, what do you think will happen to those who live in it? I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's unlikely we would survive it… do you really want to take that chance?"

Claus shook his head, "What's the point of a new world if none of us are even around to live in it? … But… I still don't know…"

"Well Commander Claus… it's up to you if you want to help your brother pull the final needle or not… I may be your master, but this is a decision you have to make yourself," Porky coughed. "... If you leave it up to me… I probably would lead you down the wrong path."

The young boy blinked at that, "Master Porky… why would you say that? I've always believed in you."

"... Claus… there was a time when I wasn't… always such a good person," Porky said, wheezing a bit. "Even to this day when I'm trying hard to make up for my sins… everything is still playing out like before…"

"What do you mean by that?" Claus asked while frowning.

"You have all night?" Porky asked. "I… I think it's time I told you… the full story about me."

Surprised and intrigued, Claus sat down next to Porky's wheelchair as the pig king began his long tale of his past.

* * *

Porky hadn't always been the mess he was now. He used to be a normal kid with a family. He had a younger brother, and a mother and father. Unfortunately the parents were cruel. The father would always yell and smack them if Porky and his brother did something wrong, and the mother would throw them outside in the rain for the night or lock them in their almost empty room for the entire day. Porky himself didn't trust in anyone, nobody wanted to his friend… nobody, except for his next door neighbor. There was a kid about Porky's age who lived next door, and his name was Ness. Ness lived with his mother and sister, and he also had a dog, but he never spoke much about his father. The only thing Porky knew about Ness's father was that he borrowed a lot of money from his own father.

Regardless, Ness was the only friend who would tolerate him. Because of his upbringing, Porky's attitude towards others were… less than favorable. But of course, Porky was mostly jealous of Ness. As nice as Ness was to him, Ness had everything he wanted; a nice mother who makes him his favorite food and always encourages him. A nice place to live and people liking you just for being you.

Things only went from bad to worse that night when the meteor came. It woke the whole town and caused the police to go on high alert. Porky wanted to see the meteor for himself and wanted something over Ness for a change, so he told Ness to go home for the night. Of course, he later loses his brother in that mess and had to go get Ness to help him. But when they found his brother, some strange bug-like being came out of the meteor and told Ness he was this chosen one from some prophecy or whatever. Porky being… Porky didn't want any part of this.

There were a lot of strange things going on since Ness left on his adventure. Dogs and crows were going wild, people were attacking others for no real reason and Porky's gotten lonely. So Porky decided to go out of his comfort zone and find Ness… only to end up in Happy Happy Town. Porky didn't remember much after that, but he knew he did something bad, and when he woke up he found Ness looking at him. Porky tried to apologize, but Ness didn't say a word, leaving Porky to believe Ness didn't want anything to do with him anymore.

Believing he was without a friend now, Porky didn't know what to do. Until he came across the Mani Mani statue. As soon as he touched it, he began feeling greedy… wanting nothing more than gold and riches, things he never really cared about before. So Porky went to Fourside and sold the statue to some guy and ended up becoming rich. But that didn't last long, because Ness and his new friends decided to mess things up. Porky, realizing that Ness and his friends were no ordinary people and that two of them had psychic powers, became scared of them and ran away into the helicopter. He taunted them for good measure, not wanting them to know the fear he held deep down. Porky traveled the land, looking for something to do. There was no way he was going home after all that, his cruel parents would _kill_ him.

Porky was out somewhere in the desert, about to die of dehydration when a voice spoke in his head. It sounded dark and sinister, but Porky was at the point of desperation. The conversation was a blur, but Porky remembered agreeing to whatever it was, and he found himself in a dark place, face-to-face with a being beyond comprehension. Porky had never been himself ever since.

When Ness and his new friends made it to the being called Giygas, everything was different. Porky felt he was superior for the first time, and he built a machine for both Giygas and himself. It was weird seeing Ness and the people he traveled with as robots, because apparently using the Phase Distorter to time travel would rip off human flesh, but they were still themselves. They fought against Porky and Giygas, and when Porky became desperate enough, he released Giygas's true incomprehensible form on them. However, when things were looking their bleakest, the girl began to pray and Giygas was wiped out by the people's prayers. Porky decided to flee through time and space.

Of course, Porky had no idea how long it's been since then. He promised Ness he'd be back, but that could've been a millennia or so ago. After seeing the end of time, Porky had ended up in this timeline. It was a rather tragic timeline where the entire world was pretty much dead, but only an island was full of life. That was the Nowhere Island.

Porky's body didn't age normally, and he had no idea how old he was. But his body couldn't move on its own, so he needed a mecha to walk and defend himself with. It was made by brilliant scientists. Porky used the time machine to take the most brilliant people from different timelines to help him make this world his playground, such as Dr. Andonuts. Porky had grown bored and believed to be beyond consequences. Porky messed with nature by reconstructing animals and merging them with another animal or machine parts, creating chimeras for fun. He brainwashed the people with things called 'Happy Boxes' and he made an army brainwashed into obeying him.

When the Pigmasks brought in a dying human child one day, Porky was excited at the prospect of having a human chimera, so he told Dr. Andonuts to save the child's life by turning him into a chimera and his own personal slave. The child eventually became the emotionless Commander of his army. To Porky's surprise and delight, the child is able to use PSI just like Ness could, and this became something he wanted to use. Fassad had told him the prophecy of the Dark Dragon and how whoever pulled the Needles with PK Love the Dragon will inherit their heart. Porky, growing tired of this world, wanted it destroyed and make a new one with his own ideals. So he passed his will onto the child.

There was another child with the same powers, and he was pulling Needles too for a peaceful world. So now it was a race between the two chosen children. For a while, it was a tie; three for three. But the last one was… a doozy. Porky himself was facing this child and his friends while his slave child was going for the last Needle, but his mech shut down on him after it had taken enough damage. Fearing pain, Porky locked himself up in the Absolutely Safe Capsule. The same capsule that Claus had seen earlier in the Earthbound Museum.

Of course, Porky was trapped in the capsule… while they couldn't get in, he couldn't get out. He was stuck… probably forever. And it didn't take long before the entire world ended and Porky didn't know what happened. Everything was black. Did that boy let the world be destroyed after all? Or were they not welcomed in the new world? Did everyone die but he was left alive because of his immortality and the capsule? Porky didn't know, he just knew he was left all alone now. He felt his sins crawl on his back, he deserved his fate.

Porky sat there in isolation of darkness, trapped in his capsule. The capsule he sealed himself in. Time passed, though Porky couldn't tell how long, it could've been days, weeks, months or even years. There was no real sense of time for him. All Porky could do was sit there and think. His mind replaying how things came out this way. Porky had been a walking tragedy since he was born. Sometimes his mind would make him hallucinate and he ended up arguing with himself. If he could go back, what would he do? Would he continue his childish tyrant, or actually try to do things for the better?

Porky wished he could go back and make things right somehow. Ness had wanted him to be happy, which is why he tried so hard to be his friend. But all Porky repaid him with was backstabbing and multiple attempts to kill him. Ness would never forgive him, especially if he knew what he done to those two brothers and their world.

Countless ages later, Porky finally heard another voice besides his own within the capsule. At first, he couldn't help but dismiss it as yet another hallucination, a figment of his tattered mind tormenting him again. Yet the words seemed to echo within him...

" _... Do you think you're above consequences?"_

Porky frowned.

"Oh great, it's another hallucination."

A figure appeared before him. The figure looked to be the slav- the… child he reconstructed for his own amusement. Porky wasn't sure if this was a hallucination or the spirit of that child, but either way wasn't good for him.

The ghost boy stared at Porky, waiting for his answer. Porky sighed as he gave an answer.

"... No. I used to think I was, but… this pretty much proved me wrong," Porky said.

 _"Why did you do what you did?"_

"Because I was… bored…"

" _Of course you were."_

It was dead silent for a minute or two, making Porky a little anxious. Finally, the spirit gave him an offer.

" _I can help you go back to before you made your first chimera and your mark on my timeline,"_ The spirit said.

"H-huh?" Porky was surprised at this. Why would the boy's spirit be willing to do this for him, and how? Maybe it was just a hallucination after all, the dead couldn't touch him, let alone bring someone back in time.

" _I have some of the Dragon's power from pulling three of the seven Needles. I can bring you to that timeline again, but what you do after that is up to you. You can try to change for the better, or try your little tyrant again. I can guarantee you'll fail again if you do the latter, because I believe in my brother. So, what will you do? Will you rather linger here than try to change for the better?"_

Porky had thought long and hard about this, and he had decided long ago that if he did have the chance to go back, then he would try to make up for his sins. So without hesitation, he agreed.

" _Very well. I will be watching until the next Dragon's awakening. If the Dragon awakens without my death, then I will cease to exist as a spirit."_

Porky opened his eyes to find himself back in his lair… no longer cooped up in his Absolutely Safe Capsule. From there, Porky decided, that the world should be rebuilt. Maybe they won't need the Dragon after all… he didn't want to doom the people in a world of empty darkness.

* * *

"And… now you know my story…" Porky said as he wheezed.

Claus was quiet as he let the story Porky told him sink in. A lot of it was very… unbelievable, but if Porky wasn't lying then… he's had a hard life. That's an understatement. That other boy that he reconstructed… and his spirit… was he…

"You… turned me into a chimera in another time?" Claus asked.

"Yes… I did. Of course, if I hadn't, you would've died after trying to fight the Mecha Drago… that I also created," Porky answered, his head down in shame.

Claus frowned as he thought about that. That day when his mother died to that Mecha Drago, he had thought about fighting it to avenge her, but he decided not to in the end.

"But I _didn't_ fight it…"

"Yes, I know…" Porky said. "Otherwise you would've been brought in at the brink of death again. That surprised me, and one of the few changes of this timeline from the last one. However, despite all the changes, the events are still playing out like before. The Needles are still being pulled, it's still a tie between you and Lucas, and now there is the one here, in New Pork City. Am I… still the bad guy? I can't tell…"

"No… you're not… you've been really patient and understanding since I joined the Pigmasks, by my own will. You never pushed me when I wasn't ready and you always helped me when I needed it. Perhaps we couldn't change the whole Needle thing because it was destiny… but… that doesn't mean we shouldn't try," Claus said, smiling at Porky. "It doesn't matter to me what you've done in a past timeline, what matters is what you've done here and now. I… I can't say what I'll do if Lucas and the others decide to pull the last Needle after all, but… at least you can say you've worked hard to atone what you've done. I'm still alive and maybe nobody else has to die."

Porky looked at Claus and said, "Maybe… Heh… looks like you're having a PSI Fever, Commander."

Claus blinked before touching his forehead; it was hot. Claus had been so focused on Porky's story that he hadn't noticed the headache.

"Very well, if the Needle gets pulled, then so be it. I just hope I can be a part of the new world rather than that dark void," Porky said, his wheezing slowing down. "But… there is one other thing that has me greatly concerned."

"Hmm? What's that?" Claus asked.

"... That black Pigmask who's been following you through your adventure… he's nearby, and his _'friend'_ is… a being I never thought I'd see again," Porky said grimly. "I have a feeling… you might be fighting for more than just the Needle soon."

Claus frowned, he had hoped he alluded that black Pigmask once and for all, but of course it couldn't be that easy. His head ached more.

"That being… who is it, Master Porky?"

"... Gigyas."

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: Alright, time to answer some reviews! We got a little bit more this chapter, yay. :D**

 **oOShamusOo: Fyrefox. Yeah, Fyrefox is totally awesome. XP**

 **Donfyre: Whoooaa, look, I can answer reviews too this time. :o Anyways, erm… you don't really seem thrilled about that, Fox. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: It's a name that's been used a lot. ^^' But hey, it's fitting. XD Our names go together like peanut butter and jelly.**

 **Joltik12: Honestly I'm surprised people are taking the idea of Claus befriending the Ultimate Chimera well. ^^' I thought fans would disagree that he should even be able to talk to it, let alone befriend it. I'm glad to see everyone's been taking it so well. And yes, Lucas is gonna get a new PSI. What is it with fans and shipping me with my co-authors? ^^' Although I do think Fyre here loves that. :3 And yes, I'd like to see what you made on deviantart.**

 **Donfyre: Shush, you. *pouts* Besides, people like you better being with Key anyways. And HA, Joltik, I is immune! *looks over at Fox* … Er… Can't say the same for Fox though. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: X.X *fur is charcoaled* WHY THE HECK DID YOU SHOCK _ME_ FOR!?**

 **Shimo no ko : Hey, it's not like I'm doing it on purpose. ^^' Oooh, if you draw a fanart of Chompy, be sure to send the pictures to me, I'd love to see it! :D And yeah, I've decided not to make Fassad a big meanie in this story. I think he could be quite likable if he didn't keep putting up the mask of a complete a-hole. I mean it's a theory, but I think Locria might've been a nice Magypsy, because according to a mouse they said that she/he was nice to them. And Fyre can take credit for the translator, he wrote for her after all. :3**

 **Donfyre: Oh blah. ^^; And about Fassad… I think I expressed my opinion on him/her before. It's really hard for me to like or see Fassad as a Magypsy 'cause of his dang attitude in the game.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Well his name IS Fassad, we never know what his true personality might've been.**

 **Guest: You think so, huh? Thanks! I wish Claus did have more of a role in the game, and I think originally he might've before they cut out certain things… it might've been too dark or disturbing. And my ANs aren't necessarily long, they just seem long because I'm answering back to all who reviewed the latest chapter. And also, people ship people all the time, but that doesn't mean anything in real life really. And Key isn't exactly helping me anymore.**

 **FanofFiction123: Yeah, sorry, things get complicated. ^^' And yeah, there were a few pictures of the boys riding on the Ultimate Chimera, hence the inspiration to have them befriend it. *Looks at Fyre* c:**

 **Donfyre: …. W-what?**

 **DarkFoxKit: Hi Fyre, I'm Kit. What say you and I go out and call ourselves the FyreKit?**

 **Donfyre: W-WHAT?! *blushes slightly* W-why must you tease me sooo? DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: Because it's fuuuuuun. :3 Anyways, I love how so much of the previous chapter caught your interest, FanofFiction. :D And don't fade away! There might still be some bonus chapters. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: Yeah, Fox is thinking of writing a little something after the story's finished. And it's nice to know we inspired someone. c:**


	42. Chapter 42: The Final Destination

**DarkFoxKit: Fyre…? Come on, I'm sorry I teased you so much, could you please come out from under the blanket?**

 **Donfyre: ….. Fiiiiine. *comes out from the under the blanket, looking at Fox with a pout* You teased me on both the Memories of a Soul AND the RESET Warfare AN's!**

 **DarkFoxKit: H-hey! They were both Undertale fanfics, this is a completely different fandom! And hey, I'm doing it properly this time, see? I have the camera in your face and I'm not teasing you. Forgive me? *nuzzles Fyre's cheeks with her nose***

 **Donfyre: ….. A-alright, fine, I forgive you!**

 **DarkFoxKit: Thaaaaankeees~ Now say hi to the fans! Oh, and last chapter we had Porky giving some expositions, and now we get to see what happened after that little cliffhanger there. :3**

 **Donfyre: Hiya readers! And yeah, stuff will really start building from here on in now that Porky gave his explanations. So have fuuun with that! :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: So now we say go on and enjoy the chapter! *wraps her tail around Fyre* While I play with my cute little Wooper boy here~**

 **Donfyre: W-what!? o-O' *tries to squirm out from Fox's tail***

 **DarkFoxKit: Hee, hee, hee. :3**

* * *

 **Chapter 42: The Final Destination**

" _Luuuuucaaaaaas….. Luuuuucaaaaaaas…. Hey Lucas…. it's time to wake up,"_ A voice echoed and pestered.

Lucas groaned, pulling the blankets over him. He already knew what today was, and he really just wanted to stay in the comfort of his bed rather than face it.

Said boy heard a whimper from beside him, _"Come on Mr. Sleepyhead, you gotta wake up at some point. Come on now, if you sleep forever then you'd be dead."_

"I'm not dead, just… don't wanna get up. We have to meet _him_ today," Lucas replied, still refusing to get up from the bed.

Lucas then felt the blanket on him disappeared. He curled up tighter when he felt the chilled air.

" _Lucas! If you don't get up, then so help me I WILL pee on your face!"_

"I-I'm up! I'm up!" Lucas quickly scrambled out of the bed. He saw that Kumatora and Duster were already up and just about ready, but Claus wasn't anywhere to be found.

Kumatora was snorting at their little antics.

"Hey…" the boy said, frowning. "Where'd Claus go?"

Boney had the blanket in his mouth and dropped it to the floor, _"Claus said he went to the 100th floor to talk to Porky, but he said he'd be back…"_

"I hope he hasn't-"

Just as Lucas was saying that, Claus walked into the room. He looked worried and preoccupied by something, with a somewhat tired look on his face too.

"Claus!" Lucas exclaimed, running over to his brother in a quick hug before looking at him in worry. "Have you been up all night? What were you doing in all that time?"

Claus blinked at Lucas before rubbing his eyes a bit and said, "Hey… don't forget, I am still the Commander of the Pigmask, so that usually means pulling some all nighters. And I was talking with Master Porky… he told me some interesting things… but I'll explain later. I'll take you to him now."

Claus took Lucas's hand and gently pulled him with him while the others followed.

"You said he's on the 100th floor of this tower?" Duster asked.

"Yes… but the elevator's built in a way to bring people to different floors before the 100th one. It's kind of a tourist attraction but also to confuse intruders," Claus explained. "It scans for soldiers and brings them to the proper floor right away."

"So… you can bring us straight to the 100th floor then, right?" Lucas asked as they finally made it to the elevator. The five of them stepped inside as the doors shut behind them.

Claus gave a nod to Lucas and said, "Yeah, we'll get there soon."

As the elevator began taking them up, Boney gave a whine.

" _Are you okay, Claus? You don't look so good, even if you were up all night,"_ Boney asked in concern.

"He's probably worried about what will happen after we talk to this Porky guy," Kumatora said softly.

"Yeah…" Claus said. "But… there is something else bothering me… it's about the Renegades, but I guess I should save that explanation once you guys speak with Master Porky."

 _The Renegades?_ Lucas thought. It must be natural that Claus would be worrying about the Renegades, considering they were natural enemies with the Pigmasks. But the boy wondered what could be worrying him about them _now_ , especially since he hadn't seen them for a while.

As the five of them stood there in a tense silence, the doors to the elevator finally opened up to the 100th floor. Claus stepped out first, the other four following.

While they followed Claus, they saw Pigmasks standing and watching them cautiously. It was tense, but nobody made a move to attack them. They had a little boat ride through the EarthBound Museum, but with the tense atmosphere it was rather hard to enjoy the exhibit. Lucas wanted to talk to his brother before they ended up becoming enemies again, but Claus looked to be deep in thought about something.

* * *

Once the boat ride was over, Claus lead them into another room, where there were some vegetation growing from the ceiling. And in front of them was an old, short man in a wheelchair. It was… rather underwhelming to say the least.

"Lucas, Kumatora, Duster and Boney, this is Master Porky," Claus introduced, gesturing to the old man.

Kumatora was the first to speak, looking at Porky funnily and with slight confusion too. " _This_ is your great Master Porky? Uh… no offense, but I guess I imagined him to be, well… more chiseled? Or maybe like some kind of mad scientist?"

" _Or you know, more THREATENING looking!"_ Boney grumbled.

"Hey, show some respect to the elderly!" Duster scolded.

Porky coughed and wheezed a bit before he said, "It's nice to meet you guys too. I didn't imagine the enemy to be a bunch of… kids and a dog."

"I'm not a kid…" Duster grumbled.

Claus was getting a little worried at the introductions the two opposing sides had with each other, so he quickly spoke up, "W-well! Uh,now you guys have met each other. So, Master Porky..."

"Was there was something you wanted to speak to us about?" Lucas finished for his brother. He spoke a little more courteously than his companions.

Porky cleared his throat, coughing a bit, "Yes… It's about the Needles you've been pulling. You've all been… quite passionate about pulling them, so much so that you've got even my loyal Commander questioning what to do. So, tell me… why are you all so insistent on pulling the Needles? Surely you know the risk of awakening the Dragon, don't you?"

Lucas spoke again, "Yes, I've heard it from Claus a lot. That the Dragon might wipe out everything that lives to create a new world. But the Magypsies have always been sure that we can all be saved if someone with a good heart pulled the Needles. And they're the ones who protect the Needles themselves, so… shouldn't we trust them and the Dragon?"

"Even the Magypsies don't know everything," Porky said before wheezing a bit. "Perhaps there was a new world that the Dragon created before, but we were left in the darkness…"

Claus frowned a bit.

"Or perhaps… I was the only survivor…"

"What are you talking about?" Duster asked. "You make it sound like you've seen all this happened before."

"I have traveled through the ends of time… I _have_ seen it for myself…" Porky coughed. "The awakening… the rising of the Dark Dragon… the end of the world… and nothing but darkness and isolation. Are you sure this is what you want?"

Lucas looked taken back, and he felt his chest drop at hearing what Porky had just insinuated. "Y-you've _seen_ it happen before? How? A time-traveling device?"

"You could say that… I had access to technology that was far more advanced than what you consider the modern life. But even _I'm_ not sure what will happen once you awaken the Dragon, which is why I decided to form the Pigmask in order to rebuild the world by our own hands. This world was ended by humans, so it should be rebuilt by humans, isn't that how it should be?" Porky's voice was a bit scratchy, but it was still enough to make his point.

The blond-haired boy frowned at that. "Your technology… I think it's hurting more than helping…"

Claus winced at that, and Lucas's group could understand where the boy was coming from. With money came greed for Tazmily, new and deadly animals coming about, the peaceful lives of everyone now turned dull and monotonous… the death of Hinawa. Claus tried not to believe what Lucas said though. After all, the Pigmasks had done good with the new tech they had too.

"Humans are a race of progress, Lucas…" Porky said. "Even if I hadn't come along, eventually they will invent technology themselves, along with greed and money. It's a cycle of modern life. All I wanted to do was try to fix a terrible mistake humanity had made, natural human greed was going to happen no matter what I do. So, I ask you again: do you really think it's right to awaken the Dark Dragon? Think carefully about your answer."

Lucas frowned and paused. The look on Claus's face was practically begging him to listen to Porky, but was it really the right answer? Turning around to his friends, Duster and Boney didn't seem so sure on how to answer either, but…

Kumatora step forward and said, "With all due respect, I think we should go through it."

Everyone looked at her, surprised by the conviction.

"Oh? Why then?" Porky asked.

"I don't know why you were in darkness or isolation… perhaps there's more to the story than you're telling us, but… I refuse to believe that the Dragon will just kill us all or stick us in some void forever. I know Lucas, if anything, the Dragon will be sure to protect us while it recreates the world. A world where we can all live together in peace. The Magypises strongly believed this the minute they unlocked Lucas's PSI, and now… so do I," Kumatora answered.

Porky seemed surprised by this… Maybe. It was hard to tell. "Oh? *cough* What led you to suddenly believe this, even after I explained myself?"

"It wasn't suddenly… it was something I've been thinking about since we began this whole crazy adventure," Kumatora said. "The Magypsies and the Dragon existed for this very reason. If we're not supposed to awaken the Dragon in our greatest time of need, then why is it here in the first place? Humanity may have messed up the world, but even we need help to clean up the mess we've made."

"... So… what's your answer then?" Porky asked, looking directly at Lucas.

Lucas shook his head; he didn't want to answer this question. "I… I've been questioned about this a lot by Claus. Well, before I even knew he was Claus and he was just the Commander or the Masked Man to us. I always said that I firmly believed that pulling the Needles was the right thing, and that, if I really wanted to, then I could… no, I _will_ have it keep everyone alive, as long as the world would be reborn. And…" Lucas looked around at his friends nervously, before finally looking over at Claus.

Claus already knew what Lucas's answer would be. Maybe he knew since they had arrived in the city, and only had a tiny shred of hope that maybe they would change their minds. It hurt Lucas a lot that all of this was at the expense of his brother. Everything Claus had ever wanted, aspired and worked for with the Pigmasks just to make a change in the world like Lucas had, it was all being knocked down by his own hands. And if the Pigmasks lost… Claus might be seen as the tragic villain in history's future, the opposite of what Claus had ever wanted. But Lucas had to keep going with this. He felt in his heart that this could help everyone and it was ultimately the right choice.

"... I think I'll keep going. I still believe that it's right to awaken the Dark Dragon," Lucas responded to Porky. It felt right to say, and at the same time it hurt him immensely.

Lucas couldn't see Claus's expression, but he could probably sense the hopelessness in his brother.

"I see… well… we had, more or less, expected this would be the result," Porky said. "So you mean to pull the last Needle to the very end... then you know what happens now, don't you?"

Lucas, Kumatora, Duster and Boney all put up their guard when Porky's wheelchair began to levitate. Claus looked up at them. However, before anything could happen, someone yelled.

"STOP!"

Startled and surprised, everyone did stop and looked at who yelled. To everyone's surprise it was…

"D-Dad?" Both Lucas and Claus said in shock simultaneously.

* * *

Flint ran up to the group and stopped, "There shouldn't be anymore fighting, not like this. It was one thing to have my son go up against an army, but to have both of my sons trying to _kill_ each other like this? I'm not having it anymore!"

"Dad, please… don't interfere," Claus hissed coldly. "This has nothing to do with you."

"Considering it involves BOTH of my sons AND my dog? I think it has _everything_ to do with me, Claus!" Flint said with a frown. "The Needles, they should be pulled. I agree with Lucas and Kumatora too."

"Dad, stop it. I won't hesitate to use Brainshock on you again," Claus glared heatedly.

"Claus, please just calm down and listen to me, okay?" Flint said gently.

"Dad… what… what are you doing here?" Lucas asked, still in shock.

"Lucas… when I heard you were coming to this city I decided to come here myself. I wanted to help see your mission through the end, son," Flint said.

"But Dad… this is very dangerous…" Lucas frowned.

"I know son, but when I found out your brother was the Commander of the Pigmask… well… I'm not having both of my sons destroy each other," Flint said firmly. "Claus, I know you have the best of intentions, but do you _really think_ this entire war between you and Lucas is really worth it?"

"Dad, this is bigger than us, this is about the fate of the world and all the lives in it," Claus said on a low tone.

"Yes, I know, Claus, however this is tearing us apart. You've used your PSI on me and fought with Lucas. Not only that, but you came close to death on numerous occasions because of this, and you lost your right arm and eye. Claus, you're my son, you know I love and care for you. Enough is enough. You and Lucas are twins, you both have PK Love for a reason, don't you think you should pull the last Needle _together_ instead of trying to tear each other apart for it?" Flint tipped his hat. "Hinawa wouldn't want this for you boys either."

Claus looked away, not sure what to say.

"Come, my son, we can end all this senseless fighting now. You can still help your brother find the pull the last Needle and the world will be reborn and we can all be together again," Flint said as he held out his hand.

Lucas looked between his father and brother. Feeling hopeful, Lucas looked over at Claus.

Porky didn't say anything and instead just watched what Claus would do.

Claus stepped forward, looking at Flint, before he narrowed his eyes. "Wait… Dad… you… why do you have that aura?"

Flint pulled his hand back and frowned. Lucas was confused, what did Claus see in their father?

"You're-!" Claus reached for his sword.

"That's enough of that," Another voice spoke up.

Coming into the room was Dr. Andonuts, someone Lucas and Claus hadn't seen in a long time.

"Dr. Andonuts?" Claus looked at him in shock.

"Commander, there is an easy solution to this…" Dr. Andonuts, pulling a remote device.

Porky looked shocked, "Wait, is that…!?"

Dr. Andonuts pushed the button and a trapdoor opened up underneath Lucas and Flint, causing them to fall in.

"LUCAS!" Kumatora and Duster shouted while Boney barked loudly.

"What did you just do?" Claus demanded.

"Dr. Andonuts! That place is where the final Needle is! Why did you drop them down there?" Porky demanded, before shuddering. "... Oh no…"

Claus looked at Porky and frowned, "What's wrong?"

"Look at his eyes."

The boy looked at the doctor's eyes and noticed how vacant they looked. It was as if…

"Someone was mind controlling him… do you think it could've been _him_?"

"What are you talking about? What happened?" Kumatora demanded.

Claus looked down the trapdoor and said, "There's no time to explain right now. I have to go after Dad and Lucas!"

"Claus, we're coming with you," Duster said firmly.

"If Lucas is in any danger, we want to be there too," Kumatora said.

" _And you better tell us what the kibble is going on here!"_ Boney barked.

All of a sudden, Pigmasks began coming in, all pointing their guns at them.

"Don't make a move!"

"We won't hesitate to shoot!"

"Don't interfere!"

These Pigmasks began filling the room, forcing Claus, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney to inch closer to the trapdoor that Lucas and Flint had just fallen through. Dr. Andonuts didn't seem the slightest bit fazed at the scene, standing straight and slightly imposing next to the invading Pigmasks.

"Whoa! What are they doing here, Claus? I thought we were promised safe entry!" Kumatora said, glaring at the invading Pigmasks that were now pointing their guns dangerously at the group.

"... No, these aren't our Pigmasks. They're probably with the Renegades," Claus said.

Claus had noticed, these Pigmasks were pointing their guns not only at Lucas's group, but at Claus and Porky as well. Claus glanced at their only form of escape now; the trapdoor. "We're running out of time! If you're coming with me then we better go now!"

"But what about Porky?" Duster asked.

Claus looked at the one he called his master. Porky just gave them a smile.

"Go on, Commander… I will hold off the Renegades as much as I can. This old man's still got some fight in him," Porky said before pushing a button on his wheelchair's arm.

The wheelchair began changing: it grew in size and covered Porky in a dome. Six machine legs sprouted out and lifted the entire thing. The wheelchair had transformed into a battle mech, surprising everyone in the room.

"FIRE!" The Renegade Pigmasks began firing at them.

Porky covered the group with the mech and said, "Go now Commander! If Giygas is there, you have to stop them!"

"Giygas?" Kumatora asked.

Claus bit his lip, "... Master Porky, we will do the best we can to save this world!"

Claus took the hand nearest to him and jumped down the hole, and the hand turned out to be Kumatora as she yelped. Duster and Boney soon followed close behind.

* * *

They were falling down into the seemingly endless abyss. Claus wondered if this place was really deep under the tower, and if so they wouldn't survive a fall like this.

"This is too far! We'd go splat like this!" Duster yelled.

Claus activated his jetwings and grabbed onto Boney, Kumatora and Duster, but they were too heavy. Claus gritted his teeth and shut his eyes as he struggled to pull them up.

"Ugh… too heavy…"

 _"Pull Claus! PULL!"_ Boney barked.

"This is bad!" Kumatora yelled frantically.

Then they heard what sounded like horns blasting through their eardrums, and a robotic voice.

"Fassad said 'Grab onto me now!'"

Claus opened his eyes to see Fassad and his translating robot flying beside them. Duster didn't waste any time before using his Rope Snake to latch onto Fassad's arm. With Fassad's help, Claus was able to slow down the descendent.

The group managed to land on the ground safely. Claus looked at Fassad.

"Thanks Fassad, you really helped us back there," Claus said.

Fassad made more noises with the horns as the robot translated.

"What? Oh… Fassad says 'I was was watching the scene between you and Master Porky. Seems we've finally reached the final stretch of things. It's been a long road, Claus, but you were a great student and Commander.'"

"..." Kumatora was looking at Fassad. "Aren't you… a Magypsy?"

Fassad only gave her a small smile before tooting his horns again.

"Fassad says, 'It's time for us to depart. I must go help Master Porky while you go after Lucas. Hurry, there's not much time.'"

Claus nodded, "I… I hope we can see each other again, Fassad."

Claus gave a salute.

Fassad gave Claus some lipstick and razor before giving his own salute.

"'Thank you, Claus, for being by our side. Here take this, this is a memento of me, in case something should happen. It'll protect you when you need it.'" The translator robot translated.

With that said, Fassad and the translating robot began flying back up. Claus looked at the memento his mentor left him and put it into his coat pocket.

"Huh… this feels so final…" Kumatora noted.

"What's that? … Fassad said 'There's a friend of yours who wants to help too!'" The translator robot said before they flew out of earshot.

Before Claus could ponder on that, he heard Duster speaking up, "This place… it feels so… cold and sinister."

Boney gave a whimper, _"Y-yeah, where is this place?"_

Claus looked around himself. This place was dark and cold, almost like some sort of underground cavern. Is the final Needle really somewhere in this place?

Boney whimpered, _"Where could Lucas and Flint be? I hope they're alright… you don't think that fall smooshed them, do you?"_

Claus gave a frown as he thought about his father, "... I think they're fine, Boney, but… they're probably closing in on the Needle now."

"How?" Duster asked. "This place is huge, how would they know where to go to get to the Needle?"

"And does it really matter? We wanted Lucas to pull the Needle and he's with his dad," Kumatora said. "Although those Pigmasks… or… Renegades up there do make me wonder whose side they're really on."

"Guys, we can't let Lucas pull that last Needle!" Claus said urgently. "It's not just because of the Dragon's apocalypse, it's worse than that! If… if what I think is right, then Lucas and _all_ of us are in danger!"

"Okay, Claus, calm down and tell us what exactly is going on," Duster said calmly. "Is there something about the Renegades you know that we don't?"

"The Renegades…" Claus hesitated. "They're not even real people."

* * *

The three grew quiet and tense while Claus walked forward, his footsteps felt heavy.

"What do you mean they're not real people?" Duster finally asked, stopping Claus.

"... I mean… they're not human," Claus said. "They never were… they're just manifestations from a powerful and dangerous being."

"And you figured this out how?" Kumatora asked, having a look of disbelief.

"When we captured one of them a while ago. We unmasked the renegade, but there was no head there. The body just disappeared after a while," Claus answered. "These so called 'people' weren't real. But there had to be a few people around to control these manifestations. There were people like Carpainter who controlled a portion of the army."

"But what is this thing that's making these fake Pigmasks?" Duster cautiously asked. "And why was it helping us?"

Claus sighed as they continued walking in the dark cavern.

"I didn't know for the longest time who or what it was or why they wanted the Dragon to wake up. But just recently, Master Porky gave me the last piece of the puzzle. This being isn't even from this world; it was originally an alien species that invaded Earth long ago, but a group of heroes banded together to stop it. The being's physical body was destroyed, but its spirit lingered. It was so full of rage, hate and fear that every being it came across went berserk. That would explain why some animals or chimeras went crazy before. And now… this spirit is possessing someone to do their bidding," Claus paused. "They want the Dragon's power, this being called Giygas."

The area felt colder after Claus finished his explanation.

Boney gave a whimper when he said, _"Um… do you think Lucas and Flint are in danger from this Giygas down here?"_

Claus didn't answer that, rather he didn't _want_ to answer it.

Kumatora frowned before she said, "I've heard of Giygas from the Magypsies, but they didn't think it still existed after all this time. Its soul should've moved on by now, right?"

"Master Porky brought it here," Claus answered.

"Wh-what? Why?" Duster asked in shock.

"It wasn't Master Porky's intention to bring Giygas's spirit here, but… well, how do you think he lived for so long? Any human would've died and decayed long ago, but Master Porky is still alive and breathing. It was because he was possessed by Giygas, he had no real escape. But when another spirit came to him, the spirit of Giygas fled his body… Master Porky… doesn't know how long he has before he succumbs to the old age his body accumulated over the years with Giygas gone," Claus said after some hesitation. "The only reason he hadn't died right then and there was because something or someone maybe is keeping him alive until… well… who knows really."

"But then…" Duster frowned. "If Giygas left Porky, where did it go?"

"..." Claus didn't answer, like when Boney asked a similar question earlier.

"Even if Lucas pulls the last Needle, there's no way the Dragon would do what this Giygas wants, it'll inherit Lucas's heart," Kumatora said. "There shouldn't be anything to worry about, right?"

"Giygas is a spirit, Kumatora. It doesn't matter whose heart that Dragon has, just as long as it wakes up, then Giygas can easily slip in and take over. If this Dragon have the power to destroy and remake the world, imagine how horrifying it would be if someone like Giygas _becomes_ the Dragon itself," Claus said grimly.

Everyone around Claus gasped.

"Then we have to stop Lucas from pulling that Needle until we find this Giygas and stop him!" Duster said.

"I agree, we can't have this spirit of a vengeful alien take over the Dragon!" Kumatora said.

Boney was barking, shouting out for Lucas and Flint, but got no response.

* * *

It felt strange that this group are now trying to _stop_ Lucas from pulling a Needle since they were the ones who got him pulling the other three throughout this hectic adventure.

"We better hurry and make track then," Claus said.

"But this is odd, Lucas and Flint shouldn't have gotten too far, they just fell here not too long before we did," Kumatora said.

"You're right, Kumatora, something's wrong here," Duster frowned.

Claus growled before he ran ahead of them. "Darn it, we don't have much time!"

There was a loud roar before something big and red ran up to Claus, catching the rushing boy's attention.

"Huh? Chompy?" Claus looked at the Ultimate Chimera as it stopped behind him, pawing at the ground. "... I get it. Guys, we better get on Chompy, he'll take us to Lucas and Dad!"

" _B-but-"_

"There's no time to lose, just get on the big teethed Chimera!" Claus yelled impatiently as he climbed onto Chompy's back.

With no more arguments, the three jumped onto Chompy's back, while the bird on its head gave a tweet.

"Hurry Chompy, we have to get to my brother and father before they get to the last Needle!" Claus said urgently.

Chompy gave a roar as it charged through the caverns, breaking through the walls to get to wherever Lucas and Flint are. The other creatures in the caverns were either ran over or scared off by the charging Ultimate Chimera.

 _There is only one person that Giygas had possessed and manipulated all this time… the black Pigmask… the village being attacked… all of it was a stage set by Giygas to bring out the PK Love user. The person who was closest to the potential users… I can't believe I hadn't seen it sooner. Dad… how long have you been possessed? Was it when Mom died? Can I even bring myself to do the deed when the time comes?_

Claus looked ahead when they were coming up a narrow path, making Chompy having to squeeze through or break through the wall to get through.

 _How could I have not seen it sooner? Giygas was… manipulating everything. This will be… our last stand._

Chompy began to slow down as something bright and glowing was ahead of them, and beside the glowing object were two figures approaching it.

"There they are! Good, it looks like we're not too late," Claus said as they were getting closer to Lucas and Flint. It was time for a little family reunion.

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: I'm working on a Mother 3 crossover with Undertale. Let me know if you guys are interested in that, cause I have a lot of good ideas for it. And it seems we're reaching the climax of this story, so be prepared for the end. ;^;**

* * *

 **oOshamusOo : Yeah, I know, I just like reacting accordingly. XP**

 **Bloxxerstudios1 : Do you think it could get any better? ^^' Cause I think I could've done a better job with the story, but you know what they say; you're your own worst critic. And half of what you said is something that... ah, I won't say. ^^'**

 **Joltik12 : Oh, happy late birthday! Sorry I didn't update last week. I was stuck on my laptop that day and my documents were in my other computer. Still better late then never, right? Anyways, on to your actual review... Yeah, there might be a bonus chapter or two for the aftermath; key word MIGHT, I do like to work on another story once this one is finished, like that crossover I mentioned. Um... Picky is Porky's little brother in EarthBound. Hah! I knew I couldn't be the only one who got stuck in Osohe Castle in my first playthrough! Don't worry though, it gets easier the second time around. ^^' I like being unpredictable. XP I'll let you and Fyre talk about the whole shipping thing, I'd rather stay out of it, even if it is ME who's getting shipped here. ^^' Ack, Dark types aren't big fans of bug moves. You made... Oh, is that a picture on deviantart? If so I'm so going to go see it!**

 **Shimo no ko : Eh, I'm working on how to make my plot twists a surprise without it just coming out of nowhere. I'm not good with that yet, but I'm working on it. ^^' Awesome, let me know what your deviantart account is so I can find it there! I've always believed Porky could be a good person if he wanted to be, and I just really felt bad for him rather than angry in the end when he trapped himself in the Absolutely Safe Capsule. I'm also a sucker for character redemption. XP**

 **sunflowermaiden210 : I'm glad you liked it, I was worried people would be annoyed that I would bother typing the canon timeline like that. ^^'**

 **FanofFiction123 : HAH! XD  
I like to believe no two timelines are ever exactly the same, like how people are all different, so are the timelines. Some have minor changes while others have changes like Ness living on a different planet. And I'm a big sucker for character redemption, and I do like to think Porky would try to make up for his sins in the non-existing past if given the chance. And good, I'm glad I managed to get a good twist with Giygas, even if it is a little cliche.  
Heh, I actually added that in _because_ of Undertale.  
Well written, huh? I still get people telling me my writing is terrible, but I'm still glad some of you can look past that and enjoy the story for what it is.**

 **SolarShade : I never used Refresh so that one's been mostly forgotten about. ^^' But PK Ground is AWESOME! I don't know what PSI Claus learns... or could've learned if he was on your side instead of the Masked Man, but many agreed he'd have, more or less, the same abilities as Kumatora does, minus maybe PK Starstorm. And Claus was already OP when you had to fight him one-on-one, surviving with Lifeup and guard is the name of the game then, not fighting back. Although one does wonder why Lucas doesn't try to knock him out instead of being a punching bag for him... I guess he was too emotional to think straight, which is understandable in his situation.**

 **SimplyAlex : Heh, if it never end then it would mean I stopped writing it before there was an ending. ^^' Well someone may or may not die, why don't we find out? :3**

 **Earthbound123 : I wouldn't say like Mother 4 (that's already being made by fans), more like Mother 3.5 Another Timeline. Aww, that could've been a great title for this story. I planned to do something with Claus since I wished he had more character development in the actual game, and I liked how it turned out. I am aware that Poo had PSI, however, Porky was talking about when he stole the helicopter in Fourside, which was before Ness, Paula and Jeff met up with Poo, so it wasn't a typo or an oversight on my part.**

 **AShinyBlueMew : Well it's not inspired by Undertale as I wrote this story before I even knew that game existed, but some elements were inspired by Undertale as time went on. Don't worry, there's no actual time travel in the story, it was just for the sake of explaining why Porky and Fassad are so friendly compared to their canon counterparts. As for which 7th gen starter I like the most in Pokemon Sun and Moon... eh, I'm not sold on any of them until I see their final evolutions, but if you're asking about the base form alone, then I like Poppilo, he's very cute and reminds me of Gomamon from Digimon. I don't get why he's the least popular of the starters though, is it because of the clownish look? I think he makes a great acrobatic circus sea lion personally. XD**

 **Connor the speling pro : Nah, just the ones I were writing for. ^^' The crossover I mentioned doesn't have much to do with Porky time travelling. It's kind of straying from Mother 3 as the stakes are different, and so is the upcoming final battle, but if I stray too much right now it would be jarring. Heh, yeah Claus' identity getting revealed was something I've been waiting for myself, but I had already planned it to be at the sixth needle so anything earlier than that would've messed up the story flow I had going. Besides, it made it better for both Lucas and Claus having their own separate journey for the Needles, cause once they find out about Claus' identity then I would have him stay with them, which I didn't want until near the end. You could make the argument that Claus could've ran away after his identity was revealed, but that would've made it harder to have him actually fight them when the time came as they wouldn't go all out. I guess it doesn't matter now though, maybe next time I can do better with it. I'm always trying to improve on my future stories. Ah, I'm very glad to hear you liked new Porky and making his past relevant, I was worried people wouldn't like that to be honest. ^^' Anyways, it's good to hear from you again!**


	43. Chapter 43: All Things Must End

**DarkFoxKit: Ah, wow, this chapter's been a bit delayed due to how busy we both were, and that it's the end. I guess I couldn't help but wanting to delay it a little bit.**

 **Donfyre: Yeeeaah, we (mostly me :c ) were kinda too busy to try and get to this. But hey, like Fox said, the end didn't have to come so quickly at least.**

 **DarkFoxKit: *puts an arm around Fyre's neck* There might be, key word 'MIGHT' be an epilogue of the aftermath since I can't stand these kinds of cliche, cliffhanger, open endings, but I'm not sure if or when we'd get to writing it. ^^' Even though Fyre here has the opposite opinion. *rubs Fyre's head***

 **Donfyre: *pouts, squirming my head around* Q-quit that! Anyways… we're here at the end now, and we're excited to see how you guys react to it! And lookie, Fox might even give you guys an epilogue. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: *Pushes Fyre's forehead* Again, that's a maybe. And uh… should we tell them about the uh… erm… little crossover I've been working on or should we not say anything about it?**

 **Donfyre: Owww! DX … Oh, you mean the Undertale/Mother 3 crossover? Sure, I don't see any harm to it. Go wild! XP**

 **DarkFoxKit: Well you already told them anyways! XT Anyways, I did say I was thinking about it in my last AN, but I've been working on it for the past two weeks and wondering if I should actually post it on this fandom? Yeah, it's a crossover with Undertale, but the crossover fandom is really… empty… I really don't want to post it on there where nobody can see it if you know what I mean. I'll give you guys a little preview, the crossover is set in Mother 3's universe, so I see it as more of a Mother 3 fanfic with Undertale characters and mechanics thrown in. Is that fair to you guys? Hmm… well I think I've said my piece, it's time to wrap this up. Fyre, wanna do the reviews with me for our last AN for this together?**

 **Donfyre: Oh, sure! Since it IS my last time being here. See yas guys at the bottom, readers! And enjoy this last chapter!**

* * *

 **Chapter 43: All Things Must End**

Lucas and Flint were looking at the Needle until Chompy came up right at them. They both were surprised and confused to see the big red chimera.

"Lucas!" Claus yelled as he jumped off of Chompy and was now in front of his brother and father. "Are you going to pull that Needle?"

"Claus! How'd you…?" Lucas looked at the chimera and his friends that were on it. "N-nevermind. Claus, this is it, I'm close to making the world a better place."

"Lucas, you can't!" Claus said.

"Why not? I know you were trained to try and stop me, but I'm _doing_ this Claus. I'm tired of second guessing myself. The Dragon must wake up," Lucas said firmly.

"I agree. The only way we'll live in peace again is having the world be reborn," Flint said as he nodded in approval to his blond son.

"Lucas, as you said; you've been second guessing yourself throughout this adventure too. I knew I wasn't the only one," Claus said as he slowly approached his brother. "Even you must realize the risk... we still don't know for sure if we would survive once the Dragon wakes up, and-"

"I don't care anymore, Claus," Lucas said.

"What?" Claus was taken back by the sudden answer from his twin.

"Claus, don't you get it? I'm sure the Dragon won't kill us, but if it feels the world must be purified for new life to come in, then… so be it," Lucas said. "I… I don't want anyone to die, but maybe it is for the best. Humanity is what drove this world into extinction to the begin with."

"I told Lucas about why I thought waking up the Dark Dragon was the right thing to do," Flint said, his eyes covered by his hat. "We will leave our fate to the Dragon's, and if it feels we must be purge to save this world, then so be it. Lucas understands, so why can't you, Claus?"

Claus looked at his father and frowned, "Dad… is this _really_ what you want? Lucas, I know you, you wouldn't want anyone to die, not even an ant. Dad, please, you must see this is wrong, this is mass genocide you're talking about here! No, it's more than genocide; it's humanity's _extinction_."

"Claus… as I've told you before… sacrifices are needed for the greater good," Flint said firmly.

"No, there should _never_ need to be sacrifices for the 'greater good', especially not the extinction of humanity," Claus could see it with his mechanical eye, there was an unnatural red aura surrounding Flint, and some of it was seeping into Lucas. This red aura was now influencing both of them.

"Lucas, for once I agree with your brother," Kumatora spoke up after she, Duster and Boney got off of Chompy.

"We're in danger here, if you wake up that Dragon then it'll be taken over by Giygas!" Duster warned.

Lucas looked at them, "Who's Giygas?"

Boney was barking at Flint, perhaps sensing that being stronger than ever within the man. _"Flint! Something's wrong with him! There's something… unnatural in him!"_

Claus knew. Giygas's presences was dormant and subtle before, but now it's awake and active. It senses the power of the Dark Dragon nearby, it wants that power. The young Commander knew he had to do something before Giygas manipulates his innocent brother into pulling the last Needle.

"Lucas, Dad, forgive me for this, but I can't let you pull that Needle. If you want to pull it, then you'll have to kill me first," Claus said with determination as he activated his Thunder Striker, maybe for the last time.

Boney ran beside Claus, _"I won't let Claus fight alone. Lucas, I believe him. I know there's something wrong here!"_

"I'm all for pulling the Needle, but not if there's a possibility some evil being will take over the Dragon," Kumatora said.

"I'm with them," Duster said, standing beside Kumatora.

Chompy let out a roar as it too stood beside Claus, all standing in front of the Needle.

Lucas frowned in surprised at this new development, "But… guys… I thought waking the Dark Dragon was the point of all this."

* * *

Flint was frowning more, his eyes still hidden in the shadow of his hat, "So it's going to be like that. Very well then, looks like we're doing this the hard way, Claus."

Flint looked up at them, showing his eyes, and to everyone's alarm; they were red.

"What the-!?" Kumatora began to say.

"You are all in the way!" Flint swiped a hand over them, and all of a sudden everyone but Claus and Lucas began to choke and gurgle in pain.

Claus gasped as he looked at them, they were covered in red aura. Chompy's button was pushed by the red aura, and it deactivated while the bird couldn't move to turn it back on. Kumatora, Duster and even Boney were not exempt from Flint's power. They were on the floor, unable to move.

"B-Boney? Kumatora! Duster!" Claus called to them in concern.

"I didn't kill them, but they won't be joining you for this little rebellion, _son_ ," Flint said with a hiss.

Claus looked at him again and almost fell over in shock; Flint's body was covered in visible red aura now. Lucas didn't seem to notice, his eyes were dull and unfocused, he seemed to be in a trance.

" **I'll give you one last chance, Claus. You can join your brother and help pull the last Needle together, or you can join your friends and have your last few moments in pain before the Dragon's awakening,"** Flint said in a voice that wasn't his.

Claus looked at Lucas, who was just staring blankly. Boney, Kumatora, Duster, and even Chompy were out of commission. Porky and Fassad were too busy fighting with the manifestations of Giygas to help. Claus was completely alone here.

 _What… what am I going to do…? Why am I always alone? … I… I'm always alone, aren't I? Ever since Mom died… I was always alone. When I had PSI fever, I was alone, when I was fighting Carpainter I was alone, when I was trying to stop Lucas from pulling the Needles, I was pretty much alone. And I always failed… I can't stop Giygas like this… he took over my own family… I can't… I just… can't…_

" **You're starting to see the truth. I can see it on your face, Claus. Just say it and it will be all over,"** Not-Flint said to the hopeless child with glee.

"... I…" Claus began to say.

" _Don't give up!"_

"Huh?" Claus looked up and around. Did he just hear a voice?

" _Claus… don't… don't give in…"_

Claus's eyes widen as he recognized the voice. "... Mom?"

" _You're… not alone… Claus… You have friends too… you've always had friends… please… save… save our family… Claus… I… I will… help you…"_

Claus didn't know how his mother was going to help him since she was just a spirit, but… hearing her voice again, whether it really is her spirit or he's losing it didn't matter; it gave him the courage and strength to do what he believed was right.

"No," Claus said, glaring at Not-Flint defiantly.

" **What?"** Not-Flint was surprised but angry at this sudden development.

"I won't let you get what you want, Giygas. Now get out of my father and release my brother!" Claus demanded.

" **... Heh… so old Porky finally told you the truth, did he?"**

"He told me… how you've been subtly manipulating my dad since our mother died… until he finally allowed you in." Claus squeezed his sword's hilt. "Even if what Porky did before in another timeline was evil, _all_ of that and this happened because of _you_. No more, I'm here to stop and end your reign and terror over others."

" **As if a child like you could stop me!"**

"From what I heard; children had stopped you before."

" **Okay smart mouth; I'll make sure _nobody_ gets in my way ever again, child or not!"**

Not-Flint raised his hand at Claus and covered the boy in red aura. Claus hissed as his body was in pain and felt like it was on fire from the inside. Claus fell to his knees, struggling against Giygas's power, but he could hardly breathe.

" _Lucas… please…"_

Claus heard his mother's voice rang through his head, but this time she was calling out to Lucas. Claus couldn't even lift his head to see his brother's reaction.

Darkness began filling his sight. Claus was either losing consciousness or dying. Either way, he'll end up dead once he blacks out.

 _No… it… it can't end this way… please… not like this… Lucas, h-help… help me…_

The young Commander was about to keel over when the pain suddenly stopped.

"Huh…?"

Looking up, Claus was shocked to see Lucas standing protectively in front of him.

" **Lucas, what are you doing? Move aside."**

"No! You're not our dad. Our real father would _never_ hurt Claus!" Lucas snapped.

"Lucas!" Claus smiled.

Lucas turned to him and held out his hand, "I'm sorry Claus… I don't want us to be enemies anymore either… I want us to finish this _together_ , no matter what happens."

Claus took his brother's hand as Lucas helped him up to his feet, "I wouldn't want it any other way, Lucas."

* * *

" **So… this is how it's going to be?"** Not-Flint gritted his teeth. **"No! I won't let everything I've worked for be destroyed by mere children again! If neither of you would pull the Needle willingly, then I'll FORCE you!"**

Lucas and Claus found themselves facing off against their own father, who was possessed by Giygas itself.

"C-Claus… I don't want to hurt Dad…" Lucas gulped.

"I don't think we have a choice Lucas," Claus said with a frown.

Not-Flint started out by waving his hand again. The attack hit both brothers, but neither could see what he did.

"What did he just do?" Claus hissed when his body was in pain from what appeared to be nothing, not even a red aura.

"I-I don't know, but I think he's going to do it again," Lucas squeaked.

Not-Flint was already giving an evil smile as he raised his hand again.

"Not this time! PK Thunder Omega!" Claus shouted, shooting out his most powerful electric attack.

The Lightning Striker fired the powerful lighting and engulfed Not-Flint, who hissed in pain, but was otherwise fine.

"C-Claus, stop hurting Dad!" Lucas cried.

"What do you want me to do? Let him keep attacking us until we're dead?" Claus frowned at his brother.

"N-no, but w-we should try to get him to snap out of it or something. Possessed or not, he's still our dad!" Lucas said.

Claus frowned, his brother was crying. Claus hated to see Lucas cry. The boys didn't want to hurt their father, but what else could they do?

" _Flint…"_

Claus and Lucas perked up when they heard their mother's voice.

"M-Mom?" Lucas looked up.

"That's it… Mom could help us," Claus said with a smile.

Flint himself didn't look like he heard Hinawa's voice, and waved his arms at the boys. Lucas and Claus fell back, not able to comprehend what just happened again, but they felt pain.

"I guess this is a battle of survival now," Claus hissed.

"Shield Omega! PSI Shield Omega!" Lucas put up both types of shield around himself and Claus. He couldn't tell if Not-Flint was attacking them with a physical attack or PSI.

" _Flint… please… you can't… you can't let Giygas… control you… you're... stronger than that..."_ Hinawa's soft voice begged.

" **Give it up already!"**

Not-Flint sent the boys back again, the shields helped reduce the damage, but they were still being hurt by an unseen or incomprehensible force.

"Lifeup Omega!" Lucas spread a green PSI energy on himself and Claus, healing their body and wounds.

Claus had never been so glad to have Lucas by his side, but now all they're doing is stalling, hoping that Hinawa would break through Giygas's control over Flint. Claus felt useless while Lucas was doing all the work. Claus clenched his teeth as he tried to help anyway he could.

"Offense Down!" Claus tried to lower Not-Flint's attacks on them, but it didn't seem to do any good as the next attacks were still just as brutal. The shield shattered around them.

"C-Claus…" Lucas spoke up.

Claus looked over at his brother in concern, before seeing a figure in front of him. A figure he never saw before. It had a red eye, much like Claus himself did, before it pointed at its forehead, as if trying to tell him something.

Claus didn't know why the figure was pointing at its forehead. The figure then waved its hands at Not-Flint, and then at its forehead again.

"..." Claus blinked before getting an idea.

The figure disappeared when Not-Flint attacked them again.

"Lifeup Omega!" Lucas shouted, healing up their wounds again.

Lucas was looking tired, Claus knew his brother could only keep this up for so long.

"Hang in there Lucas… I'm going to try and get in closer and use Brainshock; it might help disrupt Giygas's connection with Dad," Claus said.

"A-Are you sure about this, Claus?" Lucas asked in concern.

"No… but _anything_ helps at this point," Claus said. "Distract him, I'm going to try and get in close."

Lucas gulped nervously, but nodded. Lucas ran at Not-Flint, his Mystic Stick gripped tightly in his hands.

"PSI Counter!" Lucas, having just learned that PSI after recovering from his PSI fever this morning, decided to put it to the test. A purple barrier appeared over him.

Not-Flint attacked again, pushing Lucas back a bit, but it seemed to make the PSI Counter react and bounce the attack right back, causing Not-Flint to fumble back a bit.

Claus came in close while Not-Flint stumbled and put his hand in his face, "Brainshock!"

This caused Not-Flint to fumble back and wobbled. Claus grabbed his brother's arms and ran back a bit, not wanting to get caught in another attack so close range.

It seemed to have worked. Not-Flint was cringing his head and looked to be struggling within himself.

" _Flint… Flint… please… stop this…"_ Hinawa's voice said again.

" **I have come too far to stop now!"**

"N-no… I… I never wanted this… I never wanted… to hurt my sons…" Flint argued.

" **Shut up! You wished for a world without pain and I am trying to give it to you!"**

"This isn't what I wanted…! Get out of my head!"

" **I won't stop! Nobody can defeat me!"**

Claus took Lucas's hand, "Lucas, it's time to use our PK Love."

Lucas looked at his brother, "But…!"

"It won't hurt our dad… just the thing in his mind. Do you trust me, Lucas?"

Lucas looked at his brother's eyes for a minute, before determination steeled his face. "I do, Claus."

"Then let's help our dad."

Both brothers squeezed the other's hand before powering up PK Love with their other hand on their chest. They glared at Not-Flint while he continued fighting with himself.

"PK LOVE OMEGA!" Both brothers shouted simultaneously.

The PK Love came out of their chest and landed on the ground before spreading into a beautiful, bright blue hexagonal shaped energy. The PK Love covered the entire area with bright white and blue light. It felt warm and caring to Lucas and Claus, but Not-Flint was screaming in pain. Flint himself passed out to the ground, while a red and black smoke-like entity came out of him and hovered in the air when PK Love Omega finally died down.

* * *

Lucas and Claus panted after using so much PSI energy in that PK Love.

"D-Dad!" They both stumbled to their unconscious father.

Something above them made unintelligible noises. It sounded staticy yet like a roaring beast, it was hard to describe the sound exactly. The two boys looked up in horror when they saw the smoke-like creature began shifting and changing into something horrifying and incomprehensible.

"What… what IS that thing?" Lucas gasped.

"That's… Giygas…" Claus gulped.

Giygas began warping reality around them. Everything was just thick, red and black, and there was no end. Now Lucas and Claus found themselves facing an incomprehensible nightmarish beast from hell itself. Lucas was frozen in fear while Claus tried to attack it, but it didn't seem to do anything.

"M-Mom…" Lucas began crying and begging. "Mom… w-we… we need help… please…"

Claus looked over at his brother in concern before they were both bombarded with pain. They fell near each other.

"Lucas… I'm… I'm sorry…"

"Claus…"

The two brothers hissed as a terrible headache began to form in them. Claus cried out in pain as he grabbed his head, and he can only assume Lucas was in the same kind of situation. Giygas was trying to get into their minds, presumably so he could get them to pull the final Needle.

Claus shut his eyes as he felt tears forming from the pain and agony. He couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't move. His mind reverted to that of a scared little boy.

 _Mom… Mommy… I don't like this anymore… please make the pain stop…_

"PK STARSTORM!"

Lights and star shaped meteor energy came raining down on them. Claus could hardly understand what was going on, but the pain in his head began to subside thankfully. Someone… someone was over them.

"Lucas! Claus! Lifeup Beta!"

Claus felt immensely better, his head stopped pounding and his wounds were gone. Looking up, he saw Kumatora over him and Lucas. Lucas looked a lot better too, and was just as confused and surprised as Claus was.

"K-Kumatora?" Lucas said questionably.

"Did you really think we would let you two fight alone?" Kumatora smiled.

Claus couldn't help but smile despite the situation. Kumatora was here and conscious, Giygas' power on them must've worn off when it was driven out of Flint's body.

"Whoa, _this_ is what we're fighting now? It's like something straight out of a nightmare hell," Duster spoke from behind Kumatora.

Boney gave a whimper, _"I-I don't… like this…"_

Giygas made more of those noises as something began manifesting in front of them; it looked like some kind of spider mecha thing with… a person inside.

"M-Master Porky?" Claus's eyes widen in shock.

Porky was sneering at them from within the spider mecha. But something else was different; Porky's skin was blue and he looked far younger.

"You called me here because you couldn't handle a bunch of kids and a dog?" Porky sneered, but didn't seem to be directed at them.

Giygas gave another incomprehensible noise and it seemed this Porky understood him perfectly.

"Heh, so they're just like Ness. Well this should be fun then!" Porky grinned evilly at them. "I've been working on some new weapons I've been dying to try out anyways."

"I should've known that Porky was up to no good!" Kumatora growled.

"No, that's not the same Porky we know," Lucas stated. "This one's different."

"Yeah, there's no way that could be Master Porky," Claus said.

Porky charged at them with the mecha and fired missiles. Claus and Kumatora reacted quickly as they stepped in front and fired their offensive PSI at the missiles in retaliation.

"PK Fire!" Kumatora shot out flames.

"PK Thunder!" Claus shot out lightning.

The two PSI attacks combined into a fiery, lightning tornado and destroyed the missiles with an explosion.

"Huh, so you really can use that fancy PSI stuff like Ness and his friends," The younger Porky sneered.

Claus only knew about Ness through Master Porky's life story, so this Porky must be more recent to that timeline.

Duster came running past him and Kumatora and threw a smoke bomb at the glass dome around Porky, covering it in smoke.

"Hey! What's the big idea!?"

Then Duster threw a Thunder Bomb, damaging it.

"Lucas! Claus! We'll handle this Porky, you try to take on that… Gigyas thing!" Duster yelled over to the boys.

Boney began barking wildly before something roared from behind him. Claus and Lucas looked back to see what it was. Claus felt a smile come up on his face as he saw Chompy roaring from behind Boney.

Boney jumped on Chompy's back, _"I don't know if there's anything I can do at this point. A mecha isn't exactly vulnerable to teeth, but I'm behind you all the way."_

"Boney, we're just glad you're here with us," Claus said. "Come on Lucas, we've got to end this!"

Lucas followed his brother by jumping onto Chompy. Boney gave a howl, _"CHAAAAARGE YOU MAGNIFICENT BEAST!"_

Chompy gave a loud roar before running towards the circle skull of Giygas. Kumatora and Duster were left to deal with the younger Porky.

* * *

Claus hung on to Chompy tightly as they were running towards Giygas. The place was disorientating, Claus wasn't sure if he would've been able to stand let alone walk or run towards Giygas like this. He was glad he managed to befriend this chimera.

"Claus! What will we do once we reach that skull? I don't think we can attack that thing!" Claus heard his brother yell from behind him.

"We'll have to try, Lucas, it's all we can do!" Claus said back to him.

Chompy got in close and jumped at it. Claus swung his sword while Lucas swung his stick. Boney and Chompy both bit at the red skull with their teeth. But it didn't seem to do anything.

"Why can't we damage it?" Claus frowned.

Lucas and Claus tried using their PSI, firing PK Love together in the Omega stage. It seem to be doing damage to Giygas, but nothing really changed. It was still a red misty blob monster with an unidentifiable form.

"Nothing we do is working…" Lucas said.

" _This is impossible!"_ Boney whimpered.

Giygas sent out a wave of incomprehensible pain. Claus, Lucas, Boney and even the supposedly invincible Ultimate Chimera were all thrown back. Claus felt Lucas casting Lifeup on him, but they'll run out of PSI sooner or later. How were they going to beat something they couldn't even comprehend?

"Hah! Do you really think that your measly attacks could hurt Giygas?" They heard the younger Porky laughing at them.

Claus looked over to see Kumatora and Duster were pinned down by the mecha's arms. They were struggling just to get up.

"You may be psychic, but even you wouldn't be able to defeat Giygas with your cry. Nobody will hear you anyways," Porky was laughing. "You're not like Ness, oh no, you aren't the chosen heroes prophesied to defeat Giygas. No matter what you do, you're as good as dead!"

"Just shut up! Who needs a stupid prophecy to beat a monster?" Claus snapped. This Porky was not his master or someone he grew to like as a mentor and friend. "Now leave our friends alone!"

"And who's going to make me?" Porky stuck his tongue out at them.

"PK Ground!" Claus stomped on the supposed floor and caused the entire place to shake, making Porky's mecha to lose its balance.

With the Porky's mecha fall, Kumatora and Duster unleashed hell over him, trying their hardest to break the mecha.

"Claus? When could you use PK Ground?" Lucas looked at his brother in shock.

"It just kinda came to me," Claus said, remembering he had learned it when his PSI fever broke while he was on his way back to Lucas's room that morning. "But that won't help us with Giygas."

" _Do we really have to be some great chosen ones just to beat this thing?"_ Boney whimpered.

Claus put his hands in his coat pocket before digging out a familiar lipstick and black eyeliner. He had forgotten about the memento Fassad gave to him.

"... No… sometimes you _can_ fight against fate," Claus said, holding the Magypsy memento.

Lucas took notice of the memento Claus held and took out the other ones he was given during his journey. "That's true, but what _can_ we do?"

They heard a loud explosion from behind them, seeing Porky's mecha smoking. Duster and Kumatora hurried over to them.

"Well he should be out of the picture for a while," Duster said.

"But… dang it, there's nothing we can do against this thing, can we?" Kumatora frowned, looking at the form that is Giygas.

* * *

Claus noticed the memento in his hand started glowing as well as the other one he had in his pocket given to him by Lydia. The memento in Lucas's hand was also glowing, as well as the ones he kept in his pocket. Kumatora's pocket was glowing as well.

" _Hey, what's with the light show?"_ Boney barked in confusion.

"The mementos are reacting," Kumatora said.

All seven Magypsy mementos floated up and formed a circle. The glowing light showed the Magypsies' form; they were see-thru almost like ghosts, but they were there, including Fassad.

"The Magypsies? But I thought they… disappeared…" Lucas said in awe.

Claus remembered what Fassad- well what his translator robot- said when he gave him his memento. He said it would protect him when he needed it. What were the seven mementos going to do now?

" _ **It is our job to protect the Needles from evil,"**_ The seven ghost Magypsies said in unison. _**"Even when we're gone, we will fulfill this duty together, no matter what. When seven Magypsies come together and unite as one, the evil will banish, the Needle shall only be pulled by the pure of heart."**_

Everyone watched in awe as the seven ghosts of the Magypsies floated into the skull of Giygas and began circling around it, faster and faster, causing Giygas to screech.

"Now's our chance!" Kumatora shouted, snapping everyone else out of their awe-inspired trance. "Let's attack together!"

Boney and Duster jumped on Chompy as those three could only do physical attacks. They charged at Giygas while Kumatora took a deep breath.

"PK Fire Omega!" She blasted out blue fire from her hands, the streams forming together almost resembling to that of a dragon.

"PK Love Gamma!" Lucas's PSI was low, so he could only do the gamma version of PK Love.

"PK Ground!" Claus decided to use the earthquake to try and throw Giygas off balance (if such a thing was possible).

" **Enough… enough! I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!"**

Giygas let out a screech before unleashing black mist over everyone. The monster couldn't fight back with the Magypsies preventing it from doing so… however, that didn't stop it from trying to get into their heads.

Claus saw this and, without thinking, grabbed Lucas before throwing him in the middle of the Magypsies' circle. Their light protected the blond haired boy from the black mist. Lucas looked around to see the mist covering everyone else's face. Chompy looked unaffected, but it did stop when Boney and Duster fell off.

"What's happening?" Lucas frowned.

" _ **Giygas is trying to manipulate them, using their negative thoughts. If nothing snaps them out of it, they'll be under Giygas' control. If your brother falls, then he'll pull the last needle,"**_ The ghost Magpysies said.

"Th-then…! We have to snap them out of it!" Lucas cried frantically.

" _ **If we stop now, Giygas will destroy the world. You'll have to do it, Lucas."**_

"M-me? B-but I can't…"

" _ **You have to. You know these guys better than anyone. Now go and save them, hurry!"**_

Lucas gulped in unease but nodded, if he didn't do it then the world will be destroyed forever. While the Magypsies were holding Giygas back, Lucas tried to run to the nearest person, but he kept losing his balance. Giygas wasn't going to make it easy for him. Looking up, Lucas remembered the Ultimate Chimera.

"C-Chompy! Come here please, I need your help!" Lucas called.

Chompy looked over at Lucas and ran over to him. The chimera was the only being capable of running in this place. Lucas climbed onto Chompy's back. Chompy ran over to Boney and Duster first since they were next to each other.

"Boney… Duster…!" Lucas called. "Can you two hear me?"

They didn't react, they looked like they were in a deep trance.

"Please hear me… I can't do this alone…" Lucas sniffled.

" _Lucas… I… will… help you…"_ Lucas gasped in surprise when he heard Hinawa's voice. _"Just… concentrate… they… will hear you…"_

Lucas nodded, feeling more confident with his mother's spirit by his side. "Boney, Duster! I know you can hear me!"

"Why bother anymore? I'll never be good enough for dad or anyone…" Duster said sadly.

" _All I'm ever good for is barking at sheep… I could never be useful to anyone…"_ Boney whimpered.

"No, that's not true! Duster, your thieving skills is what got us this far, we wouldn't have been able to get as far as we did without you. Boney, you're my best friend. You've stuck with me even when things looked their bleakest, any other dog would've fled," Lucas said as sincerely as he could.

"You're better off without me," Duster said.

" _I can't help you. I can't talk, I don't have PSI, I'm not a super strong chimera and I'm nothing more than a regular dog…"_ Boney whimpered.

"Duster, don't you remember? You helped me and Kumatora when the bad guys tried to take me away and spied on them. You helped drive the Pork Bean when I couldn't, you encouraged me and saved my life when the avalanche tried to bury us back in Snowcap Mountain," Lucas said, hoping his friend was listening before talking to his dog.

"Boney, sure you may not be a super powered dog, or a big strong chimera, but you're my best friend. You fought by my side, protected me and Claus when we needed it, your snarky attitude is what kept me sane throughout this entire journey. I wouldn't trade that for the world."

Duster and Boney hesitated before the black mist left them, both of them smiling at Lucas.

"I guess I am better than my dad gave me credit for," Duster said.

" _At least there's still room in this world for regular old dogs like me,"_ Boney barked.

Lucas nodded to them before getting Chompy to run to Kumatora since she was closer. Two down, two to go.

* * *

"Kumatora!" Lucas shouted to get her attention.

Kumatora barely noticed him. "I'm a fraud… I'm no princess. I've failed everyone… I couldn't save this world…"

"No you're not Kumatora! You've fought hard and saved me multiple times. We've worked together to get this far and I know we'll be able to save this world!" Lucas said.

"My parents never loved me, they abandoned me. I don't even know who I really am… am I a bad person? I always hurt the people I care about…" Kumatora mumbled.

"Kumatora, I don't know why your parents left you, but it can't be because you're bad. You have a short temper and you are pretty hasty, but you've also kept us in line, you kept us on the road we needed to take. We wouldn't have been able to make it this far without you pushing us to our best. You knew more about PSI than any of us, and you trained me for two years. I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you."

Kumatora stood there for a minute, before the black mist left her head. "Heh, of course you wouldn't have gotten far without me!"

* * *

Now for the last one. Claus was standing beside the Needle. Lucas had to get Chompy to hurry. They ran over to Claus, who was staring at the Needle.

"Claus!" Lucas jumped off of Chompy and reached for his brother.

Claus slowly looked over at Lucas, "Don't come near me, Lucas… I'm just a monster. I'm no better than Giygas…"

"That's not true, Claus," Lucas said firmly. "You're my brother, and you were only doing what you believe was right."

"No… I only did that because I wanted to do something great in my life. But you were always the one who was meant for something great. Everyone liked you better, including Mom and Dad. I was just the twin brother. So I decided to join the Pigmasks even though they messed with nature, even though they created the monster that killed Mom. All I've done, everything I did, was for selfish purposes only. The world is too far gone to be rebuilt…" Claus said as tears fell from his eyes. "I was only trying to fool myself to justify my actions."

Lucas was surprised to hear this. He knew Claus must've felt left out and a little jealous towards him, but he never knew how deeply rooted it was in his brother, and Claus admitting that he realized the world couldn't simply be rebuilt without some kind of divine intervention made it all the more apparent Claus hated what he had done, believing himself to be a monster, and being forced to fight with Lucas must've did some pretty damaging stuff to his already guilty psyche.

"Claus… I… never knew you felt that way…" Lucas said sadly.

"No, of course you didn't. I never told you. I put on a face… a facade that I was okay with it. That I was outgoing, and brave. But really I'm shy and just a big coward, hiding behind a mask," Claus said. "Maybe I can… still do the right thing in the end and pull the Needle…"

"Claus! Please wait, don't pull that Needle just yet…" Lucas said. "I'm sorry Claus… I may not have known you felt this way, but I should've. We're twins, we practically share the same soul. Our PK Love, our PSI, they represent half of us. Our PK Love became stronger when we used them together. Our PSI were meant to be combined. You were never meant to live in my shadow, Claus…"

"I did nothing but hurt everyone. I betrayed everyone I knew, especially my own family…" Claus said sadly.

" _Claus… do you know why… I paid more attention to Lucas…?"_ Hinawa's spirit asked. _"It's because… I knew you were strong… Claus… and as the stronger… older brother… you were to protect… your younger, sweeter brother… But I am sorry that you felt… like I didn't care about you… as much as I did… with Lucas. I had wished… you would've told me how you felt…"_

"Claus…" Lucas said. "No more lies, no more hiding behind a mask… I want you to be you, Claus, the real you. Tell me how you really feel, what's really in your heart. If you can't trust me, and you can't trust yourself, then who can you trust?"

"..." Claus looked at Lucas.

Lucas held out his hand, "I know you're scared… but please, come back to me, Claus. I want us to be the best of friends and brothers again. Not enemies, not Lucas and Commander."

Claus slowly reached out a hand to Lucas's. They could practically hear Giygas screaming at them. Claus grabbed Lucas's hand and pulled him into a hug, crying in his shoulder as the black mist left him.

Lucas embraced Claus himself, feeling a few tears falling from his own eyes. "If we die by pulling this Needle… at least we can see Mom again together…"

" _Lucas… Claus… I am proud of you boys. Let's finally awaken the Dragon. I'm sure it wants to be our friend after inheriting both of your hearts. Pray that the world will be reborn to as it should be."_ They heard Flint's voice, though neither of the boys knew if this meant Flint was here with them or if he's a spirit now like Hinawa.

When they pulled apart, Lucas took Claus by the hand.

"We… we'll end this together…" Claus said.

"As we should've in the beginning." Lucas smiled.

Both of their bodies glowed in a bright, bluish white light. Giygas hissed in pain from the light. Kumatora, Duster, Boney and Chompy all watched as the brothers focused on all their remaining energy into their PSI.

The spirit of Hinawa watched in pride and joy while holding Flint's hand. Their sons had grown up so much.

"Will the Dragon be able to destroy Giygas once it awakens?" Duster asked.

" _Yeah, I thought Giygas would possess the Dragon once it awakens… isn't that why we're trying to stop it?"_ Boney asked.

"Heh…" Kumatora smiled. "I get the feeling we'll be just fine, as long as Lucas and Claus's hearts are in harmony with each other for this last Needle."

Lucas and Claus both grabbed onto the Needle and began to pull. The Needle's tip came out as it was extracted from the earth. Once it was fully pulled by both brothers, the Needle disappeared. The entire world began to shake.

Giygas was screeching in anger as the seven Magypsy ghosts kept him from trying to possess the Dragon. The Dark Dragon itself slowly began to rise from underground. The world was covered in calamity.

The Dark Dragon opened its great maw and blasted a powerful energy at Giygas, causing the form to shatter like glass, disappearing forever.

Claus watched as the Dragon's body was rising from the entire island, wondering if this really was the right choice. He saw that figure again that looked like him. It gave him a smile and wave before it disappeared… somehow Claus get the feeling it was for good this time. Was that figure... the spirit of the Claus from the last timeline Master Porky mentioned? If he was... well, now he can rest in peace.

Claus felt someone holding his hand. Looking beside him, Lucas gave him a reassuring smile. Even if they die, at least they'll be together. Claus returned his brother's smile as the two of them hugged, and the world around them came to an end.

 **The End(?)**

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: TwT You guys aren't going to call this ending a cop out, are you?**

 **Donfyre: Fox is insecure about how her ending is gonna be received. *pats her back with my tail* Then again… she usually is with her stories. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: H-hey! The ending could make or break a story, you know? *pouts* And anyways, we should get to the reviews now. We've got a few grounds to cover this time. ^^'**

* * *

 **An Unknown Guest : Ah, you saw me mention that? ^^' I didn't think anyone would've noticed. But thanks for the support!**

 **Donfyre: Hey look, you got a supporter already, Fox!**

 **SolarShade : DarkFoxKit: I know that, that's why I said Claus was already OP in the game. You literally can't win. ^^' At least not in a traditional way of defeating a boss.**

 **Donfyre: I'm more concerned about the fact that you hit Claus with 6 PK Love Omegas, you heartless monster. … Kidding, of course. :P**

 **Shimo no ko : Thanks! Nice to know we built up the story well, though Fox was the one who really worked on this entire part.**

 **DarkFoxKit: There was a Smash Brothers reference? Uh… could you point out where? Cause I don't remember making any Smash Brothers reference. ^^' If I did, it might've been by accident. Ah, thanks! I look forward to seeing your pieces of work!**

 **Joltik12 : You can look up guides for the game if you're really having trouble figuring out where to go. Uh… I don't know what you think of the ending… ^^' Oh and a lot of people seem to like how Claus ended up going with Lucas's group here, though it was only for a short while to explain a few things. **

**Donfyre: Uh… you said you wanted a different ending? Weeeell… I hope the ending's different enough for you?**

 **DarkFoxKit: *pats Fyre's head* Relax, I think the ending's different enough to be enjoyable… I hope. ^^'**

 **Donfyre: Hoooopefully… *twiddles around nervously***

 **AShinyBlueMew : Nice to see you find the build-up to the end pretty strong! And uhh… "borrow" me? ^^;;;**

 **DarkFoxKit: … I'm torn between saying 'yes' just to mess with Fyre, and being a mother hen and wrap him with my tail and say 'this is miiiiiiine!'. ^^' And yeah, I didn't feel showing the other floors in the tower were necessary, and there's no real reason for this Porky to do so. *grabs Fyre's body and squeezes him***

 **Donfyre: WAH! *struggles in Fox's grip* I-I don't know which is worse anymore! DX**

 **DarkFoxKit: Hee, hee, hee~ You're still miiiiine to play with~ :3**

 **CalculusNova: Heh, many didn't see Giygas coming in. I think I did pretty well with being subtle with him. See, I actually did leave hints in the story about Giygas being there, the whole red mist and the chimeras going nuts over it, that was Giygas' influence. You can go back and re-read those chapters to see for yourself. The black Pigmask wasn't originally a part of the story, believe it or not, but we decided to add him in as an antagonist for both Lucas and Claus, mostly Claus. Although the plank of wood thing didn't necessarily mean it would be Flint (even though he is), it could've meant he was Lighter since he's always carrying that big lumber wood around everywhere.**

 **At first, Flint wasn't even a bad guy, he was just the fatherly figure that he was from the game. But plans change as the story progress, and that also meant having to give a good reason why the previous establishment happened that contradict the current plans, but I like to think it worked out for the better in the end.**

 **Ah, I'm honored that you gave this story such a high ranking. It was a fun ride, though I had been worried that it might've been too much like the canon version, especially when I got to the seven needles arc, it's part of the reason why we created the black Pigmask in the first place.**

 **Donfyre: Wow Fox, look like you had a fun time answering to this. She really likes these long, detailed reviews as long as it isn't too harsh. XP**

 **DarkFoxKit: My ego can't take anything too harsh! ;w;**

 **FanofFiction123 : Donfyre: Isn't it pretty cool when two characters that are supposed to be on opposing sides suddenly team up together? And it's nice that these two already have a nice relationship with each other. c: You seem to really like those favorite phrases of yours, but it helps show us that you really liked the story! And what parts really got to you too. And hey look, Fox, another supporter of the crossover. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: Well… do you think Flint died? I kinda left that up to interpretation (I'm such a hypocrite! ;w;) but if I do an epilogue, then chances are it'll be confirmed whether or not Flint actually died. And yes, we really do appreciate you highlighting the parts you love. XP**

 **Guest: Uh… update in general or update this story? Because if it's the latter; the story's finished. I don't know when or if I'll do an epilogue of the aftermath, but it's pretty much done.**

 **Kumatora Freedazecat : This is the last chapter, so yeah, you saw what happened to them… sort of. ^^'**

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: … Ah! We're done! *grabs Fyre and swings him around happily* We're finally done! This is the end of Rebuild or Reborn! We've come a long way and it's finally finished! … *frowns* Oh… but that's also sad. That means no more updates, and no more us playing around in the ANs. … WHY DID IT HAVE TO END!? *cries into Fyre's chest***

 **Donfyre: WAH!? Erm… mood swing much, Fox? ^^; *pats Fox's back with my tail again* And hey, this should be more of a happy end! It's our first story that we finished! And besides, we still have those other 2 Undertale stories.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Oh yeah, we really should get back to those. ^^' But I'll still miss this one, it was our first co-story that we've finished together after all. *hugs Fyre* But all good things must come to an end, sadly. I hope you guys enjoyed the story from start to finish, it was both tedious and fun writing it all. Please give us your thoughts on what the story was like for you, and if you have questions, feel free to PM us or… well… hopefully everything came together nicely. I guess this is goodbye now, Mother 3 fans, but not forever. There's still more Earthbound stories to come, and until then… I am DarkFoxKit…**

 **Donfyre: Wow, someone's inspired. XP Anyways, and I am Donfyre, and we hope that all of you enjoyed our story! :D**

 **DarkFoxKit & Donfyre: GOODBYEEEE READERS!**

 ***Camera shuts off into a black screen***


	44. Epilogue: Life Goes On

**DarkFoxKit: Well, isn't this a nice surprise? Uploading the epilogue on the story's anniversary? Weren't expecting that, were you?**

 **Donfyre: Hee hee, that timing works out really well. Uploading the very last chapter of this story exactly a year after we uploaded the very first one! … Well, it was only you at the time, Fox, but I like to imagine I was there too. ^^;**

 **DarkFoxKit: :3 I don't think we'll be answering the reviews this time as this is the very last chapter and everyone's been mostly commenting on the conclusion rather than having any questions. I did know a lot of you were unsatisfied with the ending and were begging for the epilogue, so here ya go. XP *Is playing with Fyre's head***

 **Donfyre: It was all amusing though, seeing how much you guys really wanted to see more, and a more fleshed-out ending at that. It helps us know that you all really liked the story! *smiles proudly* Even though I do like ambiguous endings like that, but bleh I guess all of you, including you Fox, just like your fleshed out endings. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: *Jumps on top of Fyre* Well yeah, a satisfying story must have a satisfying ending after all! ;P We'll see you guys at the bottom, the epilogue is quite short.**

* * *

 **Epilogue: Life Goes On**

… _Black… all I see is black… I remember Master Porky telling me that he was in a black void after all the Needles were pulled in another timeline. Is this really the fate of everyone? Are we all just trapped in a state of limbo? … Wait… I hear… birds chirping… and I feel a pleasant breeze. Maybe my mind just wanted me to remember these things while I'm stuck in this void…_

"... Claus… Claus, wake up! … Don't do this to me, Claus…"

 _A voice? It sounded like Lucas… I can feel something shaking me… Am I really dead, or…?_

"Claus! Please wake up!"

"Whoa, that was really scary! I thought for sure we were going to die…"

 _There was another voice in the void… was that Duster…? Is my mind already going insane and making me hear voices?_

"But we're alive, and I'm so happy…"

"Whoa, Kumatora I never thought I'd see you cry…"

" _Hey, it's too early to celebrate! Flint and Claus won't wake up!"_

 _A bark…? Was that Boney? I guess I really am losing my mind in this black void… I can't even move._

"Claus is definitely alright, I can feel his heartbeat. M-maybe if I…"

 _I felt something soothing wash over me, like some kind of restorative PSI was just used on me. Feeling washed over me, and I slowly gained slight control of… my body?_

* * *

Claus began to slowly open his eyes. The boy blinked at the brightness of the sun, and the first thing he saw was his twin brother Lucas above him, smiling.

"... Lucas…?" Claus asked, worried that this might just be a dream or a hallucination.

"Claus!" Lucas embraced his brother in a tight hug, nearly knocking Claus out all over again.

"Whoa, easy there Lucas, let the boy breathe!" Duster laughed.

When Lucas released his death grip on Claus, the ginger haired boy smiled at him before looking around. They appeared to be in a forest area, no sign of a city or underground cave. Kumatora, Duster and Boney were all there beside them. Chompy was there too, sitting there, watching them and the bird on its head was tweeting a song with the other birds in the area.

"... Are we dead?" Claus asked. For all he knew this was the afterlife.

"No, we're alive, and it worked, Claus! The Dark Dragon, it… it helped bring the world back to a fresh, clean slate! The four of us just came to recently, and we saw you and Dad still out. Speaking of which…" Lucas turned to Flint, crawling over to him to try and rouse him too.

Claus rubbed his face with both of his hands, and noticed something was off with his right hand: it wasn't metallic. The boy looked at his right arm and let out a gasp of shock when he saw it was a regular flesh arm.

"Wah!? What happened to my arm!?" Claus practically shouted; he had gotten so used to his mechanical and cannon arm that having it as a normal arm was almost foreign to him.

"Looks like you've been returned to normal from your… chimera-like state," Kumatora commented.

"What?" Claus could hardly believe it. He was still wearing his Commander jacket, but his jetwings were gone as well, and he knew his mechanical eye was a normal eye since he couldn't access any data from it anymore. "Did… did the Dragon do this too?"

"That must've been one of Lucas' wish when you and him pulled that final Needle," Kumatora said.

"Hey, that's good, you're now a regular boy again!" Duster said.

Claus wasn't sure what to think, he was used to having those mechanical replacements, and yet he was also glad to have his own arm and eye back. Though he can't deny he'll miss being able to fly freely in the sky.

* * *

Boney gave a whine, " _Um… Claus… Flint isn't moving…"_

Claus turned to Boney, frowning, before seeing Lucas looking sadly at their father's face.

"He… h-he won't wake up. I tried using Lifeup, Healing, _anything_ , and he just won't…" Lucas suddenly started to sniffle before hugging his father.

"What?" Claus felt his stomach drop and his blood going cold. He ran over to Lucas and their father before getting down on his knees. "You can't? Lucas… is he…?"

"I-I don't feel any life coming from him…. H-his body seems cold, and I tried using all the restoration PSI that I knew…"

Claus placed his head on Flint's chest; there was no pulse and no breathing. He looked at Lucas and frowned, "... He's… gone… he's probably with Mom right now… I… I guess… his body couldn't take what Giygas did to him…"

"NO! We barely even got to say goodbye, if I had known he would… would be gone after that fight, then…" Lucas was still hugging Flint, as if that would help to bring him back to life.

"How could this have happened?" Claus shut his eyes tightly.

"... He did it to save you two," Kumatora spoke up quietly.

"What?" Lucas and Claus looked up at her.

Kumatora looked away before she sighed, "When… when you two were fighting against Giygas… Flint spoke with me."

* * *

 **Setting: Past**

 _After Lucas and Claus managed to force Giygas' spirit out of Flint, Kumatora felt herself recovering from whatever power it was using holding her down. Duster and Boney appeared to be recovering as well, and the little bird that always rode on Chompy's head._

"Lucas! Claus! We've got to help them!" _Boney barked._

 _Kumatora looked over at the twins and saw Giygas was surrounding everything. The place became disorienting and hard to move._

" _Come on, guys, they'll need our help!" Kumatora said._

" _It's hard to stand…" Duster frowned._

 _The bird tweeted as it jumped onto Chompy's back and pushed the button, reactivating the Ultimate Chimera. Chompy gave a roar before standing up, looking unaffected by the disorientation._

" _Then we'll just ride on Chompy here, it seems fine standing here," Kumatora said._

 _Duster and Boney looked at each other before nodding and hurried to the Ultimate Chimera._

" _... Please…"_

 _Kumatora stopped when she heard Flint's weak voice._

" _Hmm?"_

 _Flint looked up at her and said, "Giy...gas… its power… will diminish without… me… its spirit… cannot linger… too long… without a vessel… it… it can't… take over the Dragon… if I'm… gone… and my sons… Lucas… Claus… they must… end this… with the Dragon… please…"_

" _H-hey, don't speak, you don't look so good," Kumatora said in concern. "The boys need their father, don't even think about killing yourself!"_

" _I… I have… to… Hinawa… please… let us… help our sons… one last time… I have been a… bad father…"_

 _Kumatora could feel the man's life slipping away, his heart was slowing down to a stop. She reached out to him._

" _Wait a minute! Don't leave your sons like this, they still love you! Why do you think they fought so hard for you?" Kumatora shouted._

" _I… I can't… live… much longer… Giygas… did a number… on this old body… And… with me gone… Giygas' power… will diminish… tell Claus… and Lucas… I'm proud of them… and I love… th… e… m…."_

 _Flint's body went limp. Kumatora tried to feel for a pulse… nothing._

"Kumatora! Hurry up! The boys are in trouble!" _Boney barked impatiently from the Ultimate Chimera, oblivious to Flint's death._

 _Kumatora looked up and nodded, she could mourn for the man's noble death later. She had to save the two young boys that had wormed their way into her heart._

* * *

 **Setting: Present**

"From what I could gather, Flint said that Giygas' powers could only be diminished if he were to die, because of how deeply connected they were. And that gave the Magypsies the power to hold Giygas back when you two pulled the final Needle," Kumatora said. "If… if he hadn't done that… well… let's just say none of us would be standing here right now."

"Lucas… Claus…" Duster said softly. "I don't know what to say… I can only offer my deepest condolences. It isn't fair for you two, first your mother and now your father?"

Boney whimpered sadly as he licked Flint's face, " _Flint… I promised to always protect your boys with everything I have… and I've kept that vow. I just wish you could've been alive to see it."_

Lucas sniffled, trying to hold back the tears.

Claus looked at his shaking twin and said, "Lucas… it's okay to cry. No crying until the end we used to say… well, this is the end."

Lucas looked at his brother in shock before he buried his head into Claus's chest and began crying. Claus embraced his brother and lowered his own his to Lucas's shoulder; he felt trickles of his own tears falling down his cheeks. Claus was feeling all sorts of strong emotions: sad and sorrow about what happened to his father, joy about saving the world and being back to his full flesh self, happy and nostalgic that he was embracing his kind hearted brother like this and smelling the smell unique to Lucas, and relief, relief that this was finally all over.

* * *

Flint's burial went without a hitch. The villagers were all back in Tazmily Village, and Tazmily Village itself was back to its natural, rural roots before the Pigmask introduced technology and money. New Pork City itself was gone. This was Lucas's wish.

Of course, the Pigmasks themselves were still around, and while the village was still rural, they built another village close by. This village was more like how the modern Tazmily Village looked, so they called it Modern Tazmily. Now people had a choice between their rural way of life or having modern technology, or even both if they wanted. This was Claus's wish.

Surprisingly, chimeras were still around, though they were living peacefully among the other animals. The chimeras weren't hostile by nature as it was only because of Giygas' influence that made them that way. Claus decided to keep them around when he and Lucas pulled the last Needle together, but they won't be mixing animals anymore.

A year and two months had passed.

Chompy was still around, and he lived right next to Boney's doghouse. Chompy only wanted to live near Lucas and Claus as they were his first friends after all. Chompy was surprisingly helpful when it came to hurdling the sheep and farming with its strength, with Boney as its mentor. Boney, at first, wasn't so sure about Chompy since it was so big and intimidating, but after a while he's grown to see him like an eager young pup wanting to help.

Kumatora went back to the abandon Osohe Castle. Now that her mentors were gone after all their Needles had been pulled, she decided to try and revive Osohe Castle. Duster and Wess came along with her, deciding to help any way they can.

As for Lucas and Claus, they may have lost their parents but they have each other to rely on. They were both now 14 years old and continue their normal way of life together; taking care of the house, the sheep and their dog and… new chimera. It felt surreal to Claus because it felt like everything yet nothing's changed. Even without Flint and Hinawa, the twins lived a content life. They go get food when they ran out, they did their chores together, cook their own breakfast, lunch and dinner, feed the animals, play together, go to bed, wake up and do it all again.

There was no reason to fight anymore, so the boys let their training slip as they just lived peacefully. But there were a few unanswered questions, such as what happened to Porky? Claus couldn't find him anywhere and he worried that he might've gotten stuck in that void like he talked about in the last timeline. And was the entire world really fixed or was it just their island? Claus hoped one day they could go see what the world looked like now after the Dragon's awakening.

* * *

"Maybe we could go out there and see, maybe even find out what happened to Porky too," Lucas said when Claus mentioned his questions to his brother. "We could ask one of the Pigmasks in Modern Tazmily to build us an aircraft or something to get there."

The twins were getting ready for dinner, and Claus just came back with a basketful of eggs.

"Where are the mushrooms?" Lucas asked.

Claus's face scrunched up, "... Do you honestly want mushrooms? Because I never want to touch a mushroom again after what happened on Tanetane Island."

Lucas's face paled as dark memories of his own experience came back to him, "... Yeah, good call."

"We're making omelettes tonight?" Claus asked.

"Yeah, it's been awhile since we had those," Lucas said. "Not since our 13th birthday last year when Dad…" Lucas stopped.

Claus nodded in understanding, "Yeah, I get it… you want to go visit him and mother before we make dinner?"

Lucas gave a small nod.

Claus held his brother's hand. The ginger-haired boy was still not used to having both organic arms, but he was happy he could feel his brother's touch with both of his hands. They both headed to the graveyard together. Claus made sure to come while the sun was still up as he didn't want to deal with zombies again, and their battle skills were pretty rusty.

When the twins made it to their parents grave, they approach the two tombstones together. Sunflowers were around their graves.

" **Flint. Husband of Hinawa. Father of the twins- Claus and Lucas. May he finally be reunited with Hinawa in peace."**

Was written on the tombstone. Both boys bowed their heads in respect as memories of their parents flooded their heads. They remembered playing together outside the house all day long with Boney while their father was tending to the sheep and their mother was making omelettes. They remembered their mother taking them to the tame river at Mt. Oriander where they would dive into the water and splash each other all day. They remembered when their father would tease and chase them around by pretending to be a big scary giant. It was all too much. Lucas and even Claus never failed to break down in tears whenever they came to their parents' grave, they missed them so much. However, after allowing themselves a time to cry and mourn, they pick themselves back up, they knew their parents wouldn't want them sad.

"Forgive us, Mom, Dad, we still miss you very much…" Lucas said softly.

"Next time we'll come with more flowers," Claus said. "But you'll be happy to know that things are as peaceful as ever."

"And we pray that things will stay this way forever," Lucas said.

Claus and Lucas hugged each other before Claus said, "Come on, we should head home before it gets too dark. The last thing we need is to deal with the undead."

"Y-yeah… can that really happen?" Lucas asked.

"There are strange phenomenas in the world that can never be explained," Claus said. "That's what Dr. Andonuts told me anyways."

"Speaking of him, think he's got a lot of business with his new hospital job in Modern Tazmily?" Lucas asked.

"I would think so, especially if the Pigmasks are still eating all that greasy junk food," Claus chuckled.

When they got back home, Claus was thinking about the rest of the world. He remembered how it was all a desolate wasteland and nobody could survive out there. Now that the world was reborn, he wondered if there were still any people out there?

"Lucas, do you think we're all the people that's left in this world?" Claus asked as he bit into his omelette.

"Hmm?" Lucas looked at him, chewing his own omelette.

"I mean do you think we're the only humans left here? We may have fixed the world when we awakened the Dark Dragon, but is the rest of the world just a wild place without any people?" Claus asked.

Lucas swallowed the omelette piece in his mouth and said, "Hmm… I've never really thought about that…"

Claus gave a small smile, "In a way, we still do need to rebuild the world, just not in the way I thought we had to. The Dragon may have recreated the world, but it's still missing people on it."

"Heh." Lucas smiled. "You may be right about that, Claus. Maybe we could get some of the colony Pigmask you told me about to actually make settlements out there instead of trying to grow vegetations in a dying world."

"You know, that's not a bad idea," Claus said. "We can make that suggestion to them tomorrow after we finish our chores. And we can finally see what the world is like outside of the island."

"Sounds like a plan. I've been wanting to travel outside of our small island and see what the bigger world is like," Lucas said with an excited spark in his blue eyes.

"Yeah, and hopefully we can find out what happened to Porky," Claus said.

Claus stopped calling Pork his master and saw him more as a mentor. He wanted to find out if Porky made it or if he died in the void alone. Porky was no longer immortal after Giygas left his body, so his death seemed to be the most likely scenario, but he still wanted to know.

"I'm sure Porky's happy, wherever he is," Lucas said. "From what you told me; he's not immortal anymore, right? So even if he didn't make it, at least he can rest in peace now and not have to deal with that old body anymore."

"Yeah, but I guess I just wanted to make sure," Claus said. "I felt so bad for him when he told me his story. About how crappy his life was. I mean we may have lost our parents, but at least they loved us… Porky… he made it sound like his parents hated him and his brother and they enjoy abusing them."

Lucas cringed at that, "Yeah, I feel bad for him too. And you say he was a lot more different in another timeline?"

"Yeah, a timeline that probably no longer exist. Porky told me he was more like a child tyrant, and the chimeras were made for fun rather than necessity, and they were naturally hostile rather than because of Giygas' influence," Claus said. "There were a lot of similarities but differences between our timeline and that timeline. Like for example I was a mindless robotic chimera slave and I actually died instead of Dad."

Lucas frowned, "Wow… that's a scary thought."

Claus gave a small sad smile, "I guess one life can't be spared without another. A life for a life. I get to live but at the cost of our father's life. If Mom was still alive, who do you think would've had to die in her place?"

Lucas shook his head, "I'd rather not think about it."

"Yeah, me neither," Claus said. "Let's just focus on the here and now and our future."

* * *

The next day, Lucas was tending to the sheep while Claus went walking into town to get some bread.

 _I'm actually excited to talk to the Pigmasks about the prospect of leaving the island and exploring the world. I want to see what it's like out there now, and if there were any other people out there or if we're really the only ones? If it's the latter, then we have a lot of rebuilding to do. It's great that I don't have to worry about some big threat about to end the world anymore and just enjoy myself with my brother again._

Claus was smiling to himself as he was carrying a basket of bread he got from Caroline at her bakery.

Claus stopped when he felt a strange disturbance in the atmosphere. Looking around, the boy didn't see anything unusual, maybe his old paranoia was kicking up again. With a shrug, he headed back home to his brother in hope to help make a new life of peace and prosperity in this world.

 _Of course, I should've known that the peace wouldn't last forever._

* * *

 **DarkFoxKit: *still on top of Fyre* Hiya! Looks like the story's really finished now.**

 **Donfyre: A-are we really gonna end off the story like this, with you on top of me? *sweatdrops* Anyways… here's that aftermath all of yas really wanted! It might seem slightly odd though, 'cause Fox here MAY be planning something.**

 **DarkFoxKit: Am I? :3 *Is still on top of Fyre* And yes, I must do it on top of you, cause this is our final goodbye with this story. TwT A year, I can't believe it's been a year since I uploaded this story. Let the memories flow! *curls up on Fyre's head* And now we say goodbye and goodnight! Is there a sequel in the works? Heh, only time will tell! :3**

 **Donfyre: Wow… still weird to think that this is the first story we finish together. And it really has been a year since this was first posted. ;A; Well… goodbyeeee readers! Maybe we'll see you at another time. :P**

 **DarkFoxKit: And another story. -w-**


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